Heaven of Your Heart
by Nekron Smauzog
Summary: A teenage boy who has just entered high school, wishes upon a star in which he hopes will have a friend to talk to. All of that changes when he is heading home from school, stumbling upon someone who he has never met, has a blank slate of mind with no idea who she is or what is happening around her except with the knowledge for her name on the tag on the back of the coat she wears.
1. A Wish Between Two Worlds

Night had come on that late September night, after another Sunday had come to an end over the western horizon, seen from the young 14 year old boy's bedroom window. School was all set for tomorrow when it came to the boy himself, who was coming upstairs in through the open door to his bedroom.

The young boy himself was named Sean Cans. He had finished middle school this past summer, and had started high school this month as a freshman. His hair was short with a smooth texture to them, only a few hairs standing out from the back of his head, the color of them a dark brownish color.

Sean lived with his own family in his own household, which were both a mother and a father and being the only boy in his family, he had two sisters that were both younger and older than he was: Britney and Heather. His older sister is already in her senior year of high school, but did not end up going to the same school that Sean went to. The young sister Heather was going to elementary school, and was in the third grade.

His parents weren't exactly the poorest, but they weren't the richest either - being middle class tax paying citizens and working their jobs like usual. His father was in the business industry, working with the higher-ups who expected him to perform well and being early or on time. Sean's mother on the other half was working at a small local bakery, assisting in making sales for the cakes and other pastries that she and the other bakers in the store would make.

Growing up in school was not what Sean had expected, or had thought would happen. He had expected to make tons of friends over the years when he had been in elementary and middle school. Trying to make friends? It was only quite a bad gamble in the end. No one really wanted to play with him or talk to him at school, other than the teachers that taught him his subjects in class, for the knowledge he needed to learn.

He felt rather lonely at school... even at the mercy of bullies every year. Even there at the high school, he was the target of a group of bullies that somehow chose him to taunt and push around. Sean, not wanting to fight back as he knew violence wouldn't solve anything, would not throw any punches. Just something the teachers taught over the years about anti-bullying.

"Sean, it's school tomorrow!" His mother called from another room upstairs, being that his parents slept from down across the small hallway. "Get some rest!"

He continues into his room, not turning to look as he moves his left hand to close the door behind him. "Okay, good night mom!"

The door closes shut, with him gripping on the doorknob to make sure that it wasn't too loud, so that he wouldn't wake up Heather who was already in bed. He heads over towards his drawers, getting out his pyjamas and getting out of his clothing of the day. Once he had changed, he made his way over to his bed, opening up the covers and sliding into it.

The crickets outside were still heard with the occasional sound of a car passing by into the distance from that open window of his. His head turns towards the window, looking out at the stars in the sky.

Beautiful as they usually were with so many wonders from afar, he like a few of the students in Science class did ponder on the thought that there was something beyond them, like new worlds that he probably didn't even know about. But then there was that myth that he hardly or never even believed as a kid that if you wished upon a shooting star that passes or has passed, your wish would end up coming true.

"I doubt that wishing even works..." Sean mutters quietly to himself, his brown eyes blinking as he tries to make himself tired for tomorrow's school day.

Still, the idea of saying your wish to the stars was something to see if it can be proven. For the times as a kid at 5 years old, he did wish for friends... but nothing. Would it work this time? Probably doubtful, but he was starting to grow up into that teenage phase where he was expected not think of childish things.

"One last time probably wouldn't hurt, perhaps." He whispers quietly to himself once again, taking a look at the stars, at least two of them passing by rather quickly. He would then say those words once, with the promise inside that he would never say such silly things or somehow inside, believe nonsense like that.

"_I wish I had a friend_."

* * *

**In a world far from Earth...**

**Twilight Town**

The dark essence began to scatter itself away from the black haired girl at the bottom of the Clock Tower. She wore a black coat meant to protect her from the darkness, but she herself seemed like she had grown weak, falling to her knees, struggling almost to keep her blue colored eyes open.

The blonde spiky haired boy in front of her is stepping forward towards her, one hand on the side of his head, probably injured from a fight these two were having. He is struggling to figure out now what was even going on after a lengthy battle against his own friend with someone's keyblade, the Kingdom Key.

"Who are you... again?" The blonde boy had asked her, approaching towards her, a questioned tone in his voice as he continued. "It's weird. I feel like I'm forgetting something really important..."

The young girl, still awake, feels a part of herself beginning to give up from the battle she faced with him, trying to make the boy himself a part of her. She weakly blinks, slowly and slightly opening her eyes as she looks at the street tiles below her.

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix OST - Musique pour la Tristesse de Xion]**

"You'll be... better off now... Roxas." She says to him, a tired tone in her voice.

She closes her eyes for that moment, the boy named Roxas seeing that she was starting to slip from her own grasp. He reaches down, catching her with an arm before her head could fall backwards to the tiles.

An essence that almost resembles a crystalline mist is beginning to fly up into the sky and away from her as he saw that her own life and soul within her body was beginning to twinkle and fade away, still unsure of why he had to fight her.

"Am I... the one who did this to you?" Roxas asked the girl.

The girl shook her head. "No..." She responded to him as he listened to her speak. "It was my choice... to go away now. Better that, than to do nothing... and let Xemnas have his way. I belong with Sora. And now, I am going back... to be with him."

Roxas inside couldn't believe inside that this was her choice in the end, knowing his own friend was dying in his arms, struggling to stay alive long enough unless he could save her from that permanent fate.

Her left hand goes to the right side of her chest, her blue eyes staring at his own. "Roxas... I need you... to do me a favor," She asks of the nobody, as he wonders what her final request was from her last dying breath. "All those hearts that I've captured... Kingdom Hearts... Set them free."

"Kingdom Hearts..." Roxas ponders about the request. "Free them?"

His eyes turn, surprised that she was beginning to fade faster as those legs of hers were beginning to turn into ice-like crystals, her body giving up on him. Inside, there was some deep feeling that he should have prevented this from happening.

The girl spoke again, groaning a bit from the dying scars of battle she had to endure. "It's too late... for me to undo my mistakes." She continued. "But you can't let Xemnas... have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."

Roxas felt something inside that he didn't expect himself to feel: sadness and what was more loss itself.

"Goodbye, Roxas." Her voice caught his attention as he turns his head to look at her again. A hopeful weak smile was on her lips as she talks to him. "See you again. I'm glad... I got to meet you. Oh... and of course, Axel, too. You're both my best friends..."

She moves her left hand off from her chest and places it gently onto his right cheek, the icy crystalline of light covering her up more. He remained confused, slowly processing what was going on as she spoke her final words to him.

"Never forget. That's the truth..."

Roxas kept his eye on his own friend, coming now to the realization now of what was happening to her. She was dying! His eyes shot open with feelings of despair when her eyes closed and her hand was falling from his own cheek.

"No!" Roxas says with desperation in his voice, a bit of weakness shown in it as he grabbed and caught onto her hand which brought out more crystalline dust of her fading.

"Xion..." He calls out his friend's name with the empty hope of saving her. "Who else will I have ice cream with?"

It was too late for him though as the eyes of his friend Xion were closed for good, her final breath having been drawn, the icy crystals accelerating and covering her in a warm, yet gentle light in his own arms, fading away as elements of light in his hands that twinkle out like candlelight, looking upwards as they go free to the skies above.

He lowers his head again, a saddened expression on his face becoming present as he sees the only memory of what remains for Xion. A lone seashell that wasn't taken into the light. He places his right hand onto it, grasping onto the item.

Happy memories flowed throughout his mind of Xion herself and the times that he had been with her in their time with Organization XIII. The moment where she was able to summon her keyblade again, the times of sharing Sea Salt Ice Cream with her and his other friend Axel and going out on missions with her when assigned with her by Saïx.

"Xion..." Roxas says her name, tears running down his cheeks, now unable to hold back the tears over the loss of his own friend, yet to become forgotten by everyone else but him.

* * *

_Rest not, young one... do not be afraid..._

_Though every memory you experienced is merged with the boy, you are not forgotten..._

_A wish has been made, by only a blank slate in your reborn mind, your body and soul along with it shall be reincarnated for that world..._

_A boy who cast his wish out of millions of other children in that far world... he needs a friend..._


	2. A New Day

_Beep beep... beep beep..._

Sean groaned, opening his eyes slowly from the sleep that he had been slumbering in since he had gone to bed that night. The vision in his eyes is blurred a bit, even from the rising sun peaking into his room and his alarm clock continuing to blare.

He brought out his hand from under the sheets which was to usually keep it warm during the fall and winter nights, placing it onto the alarm clock and slamming it onto the button that would turn it off, resetting it to go off again the next day. The clock was already set for the next school day on Tuesday, which was tomorrow.

Sean begins to crawl out of bed, sliding himself out of it and placing his bare feet onto the carpeted floor. The smell of breakfast looms in the air, which originates from downstairs. His parents are probably downstairs, making breakfast ready for him and his two sisters. Once out of bed, he goes to his drawers and changes out of his pyjamas into random mishmash of casual wear: white colored socks, denim jeans and a short sleeved shirt in the color of light blue.

There is the sound of someone knocking at his door. "Sean! Come on, breakfast is ready!" It is the voice of his younger sister Britney.

An annoyed look crosses over on Sean's face as he finishes placing the other sock on his right foot. "Alright, I'm coming!" He calls to her, going over towards the door with the audible sound of Britney's footsteps running right down the stairs, heading to the usual spot when it came to both breakfast and dinner.

**[Play Final Fantasy VIII OST - Breezy]**

He leaves his room, heading downstairs like he did every day to gather at the table with his family for breakfast. With a turn from the steps, down the hall to the right past the living room, there was the dining room, with breakfast set on the plates and the plates of white ceramic set on the solid wood dining table.

Breakfast was that of the usual Monday morning on his white ceramic plate: five fried strips of bacon with two eggs over-easy and a single hash brown. The rest of his family were having the same thing as he was. The only difference being that the different quantity of how much of each item was on their plates. His father is there, using a knife to cut a bit of the eggs on the plate he has, taking a bite from one of them.

Sean pulls the chair back, joining his family at the table when he takes a seat and scoots it forward. His mother comes in from the kitchen, having finished washing her hands. He grabs the knife and fork, digging the tip of the fork into one of the bacon strips, taking a bite out of it and swallowing it, just keeping his mind on the food in front of him, trying not to think about today's Monday back at school again.

"Morning Sean," His mother says to him, showing a bit of curiosity in her expression along with a smile on her face. "Did you sleep well?"

He turns his head to his mother, nodding to her as he draws his fork at an egg, using the knife to carve it. "I slept alright. It's just another day of school again." He says to her, turning back to his food to eat a bite of the egg.

"I'm just making sure you're okay, Sean." His mother says to him, keeping the smile on her face as she carves off pieces of her egg on her plate, even with the hash brown.

"Isn't today a test for your English course?" His dad asked, having finished a sip of his coffee.

Sean shakes his head. "I think that's at the end of this week on Friday." He tells his dad, taking a few bites of a bacon strip when he finished talking to him.

"I already know what is going on with me," His older sister Heather spoke at the table, finished all of the bacon strips on her plate and moving to the only egg and two hash browns on her plate. "After I signed up for the drama club, Ashley, the leader of that club asked me to audition after school. I'm hoping I will be able to get in."

"We know you'll do fine, Heather," His mom says, quite surprised and with such proudness in her voice. "Britney, anything that is happening at your school?"

"The Book Club is opening up and offering positions. Do you think I should go and join them?" Sean's younger sister asked.

His mom has a smile on her face. "We all know that you really enjoy reading. I would say that you should give it a try and see what comes out of it."

Britney nods her head, taking her mother's advice to heart as she turns back to the breakfast on her plate.

Sean continued to eat as he listened in on the conversations shared between family members. He was already down to one more bacon strip and a few bits of a single egg on his plate. Typical usual breakfast when it wasn't cereal on any other day that he would pour himself and bring to the table where every family member was seated.

Transportation to school wasn't so bad for him when he would finish his food, he owned a bicycle being that his parents were driving off to work soon after he left. His two sisters, Heather and Britney were much luckier. They got a ride from the school bus on the way to school. If not a bicycle, Sean would have had to take the public transportation which might have taken longer to get to school, since you never knew what might happen or how early or late it would come.

With all honesty, he did not want to take public transit since the last time he took it, he was late for class and had to stay an extra 15 minutes to explain why he was late. The thought of not riding his bike in winter, really irritated him.

He continues with the last few pieces of food on his plate, having chewed and swallowed down a piece of egg, turning to his father who had finished taking a sip of his morning coffee. "I have finished breakfast." Sean notified him.

"You'll be going to school now?" His mother asked him.

Sean gets up from his seat at the table, turning towards the open arch to get ready for school. The sound of his dad's coffee cup is heard setting softly down onto the table, as he turns to his son, speaking to him with almost a bit of concern and curiosity in his voice.

"You know, Sean, we've been wondering..." Sean stopped at the middle of the open arch, turning his head to look at his father's brown eyes. "When are you planning on bringing home a friend from school that we can meet? Your sisters have brought their friends over, why not you?"

Sean thought about the answer to that question for a moment. "I'm not sure, but I am trying the best I can to make one." He responds to his question.

"Honey, maybe you'll be lucky today," His mother comes into the conversation. "Who knows? There is plenty out there that might have a lot in common with you. I think all you need to do, is just keep an eye out and just introduce yourself."

Sean manages to show a bit of a smile for his parents from the suggestion his mother gave to him. "Thanks mom, I'll try my best." He says to her, turning back around to head back into the hallway.

"Uhh, Sean?" His mother calls him again as he turned the corner from the room.

He pokes his head out from around the corner to look at his mother again, a look on his face that wondered what else she wanted to tell him.

"You forgot your lunch in the kitchen. I prepared it for you, so you don't have to use your lunch money in the cafeteria today."

Sean nods in understanding, going in the opposite direction from the front door to the open arch into the kitchen, grabbing the lunch bag on the counter that was left for him by his mother. It was the usual lunch pack that she would store his lunch in when he wasn't planning on spending his lunch money.

He goes back to the front door, putting on his black converse high tops. Once he had tied them both, he grabs his backpack, placing his lunch pack inside, and putting it behind him. He steps to the front door, opening it up and closing it behind him, his parents wishing him a good day at school as he left with a soft smile on his mouth.

Stepping around to the opposite side of his house, his bicycle is still sitting there where he had left it since this past Friday. The bicycle itself wasn't sparkling new, but more of a few to couple years in age. He steps forward, getting up onto his bike, one of his feet at the pedals as he stops, reaching into his backpack to get something out.

He got out his music player, something that he would listen to when he needed alone time, or when he was going somewhere. He places the earbuds into his ears, pressing play on the device and putting the device into his right pocket. As the tone of mixtures of pop and rock music play through into his ears, he places the both of his feet on the pedal, propelling forward off from the driveway of his house and out onto the quiet neighbourhood road.

The volume of the music was set at a good comfortable level so that he could play attention on the road in case there was a car behind him, on the sides or incoming down towards him. Being that it was still the time that other kids from his school were either getting ready for school or still eating breakfast wherever they were, it was fair timing for him today.

Even so, all in all, it would only end up being another usual day of school for him when he arrives. He was not looking forward to his first class of the day in Geography.


	3. Discovery

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix OST - Lazy Afternoons]**

"And that is how popular author Deanna Beaking managed to succeed in getting her name into a publishing house to release the critically acclaimed book 'Sins in our Hearts'. Now class, does anyone have any questions regarding the subject of Deanna Beaking?"

Sean sat there at the desk in the classroom with all of his other classmates, listening to his English teacher, Mr. Byer. Just like the first week of school, in the last class of every Monday to Friday, it was your usual English class with him being taught various subjects and new different words, which the next thing he was probably going to learn how to take in an essay within the next couple of weeks in this class.

School at the beginning of the day all the way to the current time that he had left in class before the bell would sound, it turned out to be like any other day at school. Walk into the school, classmate bully taunts him with his other friends, attend the first class in Geography, second class of Mathematics, third period rings in, signalling for him to go to lunch, have lunch, run late for Science class due to bullies making him late, leading up to this last class he had for the day.

In the same class, though desks apart, Sean's bully Greg Fernsby was someone he knew from the moment he first got into Grade 9, who saw him, taking every opportunity he could to pick on him, though he hadn't tried to attack Sean just yet... for now. For the most part, it was Greg and his friends taunting him, attempting to shove Sean into his own locker, or seizing every chance they could at lunch time to try and take his lunch. At the moment as the class was going on for just a few minutes more, all Greg was doing was crinkling up pieces of spare paper from his bag and tossing them at Sean's head to his own annoyance.

The teachers, like at any other school he attended growing up, did absolutely nothing about the bullying. The only thing that would happen when Sean reported the incident was the teachers telling Greg to knock it off with him getting away with it.

Two minutes... maybe one minute left to go until the bell rings to end the already long school day. He knew from the moment the bell would ring, all he would do is just get out of class as quick as possible, put everything in his bag and just ride his bike out back home like he usually did at the end of the day.

"Mr. Cans?"

The voice of Mr. Byer had caught his attention, Sean turning his eyes off of the clock to look at his teacher. The whole class turns to look at him, giggling a bit to his own embarrassment of him drifting off from the focus of the lesson.

"Were you drifting off into la-la land?"

Sean realizing the situation that he had lost focus of the lesson, jumps back to reality, and stumbles a bit on what to say. "I, uhh... I was thinking about the lesson, Mr. Byer." Sean lies.

A stern, yet suspicious look appeared on the teacher's face. "If you say so. Then, I suppose you remember what I was talking about to the class." Mr. Byer responds to him, seemingly able to see through Sean's lie.

"It was about an author named... named..." Sean struggles for a moment to remember until it snapped into his mind. "Deanna Beaking, and her success as an author." He continued, putting a smile on his face.

"Half correct, Sean," The teacher said with half an expression of being both impressed and disappointed. "But half is wrong, the other half you missed was her struggle with the need of getting her inspiration to write her book and get it published when twelve book publishing houses would reject her book."

Mr. Byer returns his focus to the rest of the class. "So, for your assignment of the week, I want you to look into more about Deanna Beaking, and to write up and research on how she managed to get the deal with the book publisher that had published her book and what kind of motivation got her into writing. Not an essay long writing, but enough for me to look into it." He says to the rest of the class.

From the moment the clock on the wall had hit 2:40pm, the school bell rang out, signaling the end of the day for all of the classes in the school as well as Sean's class. Everyone including Sean get up from their chairs at their desks, gathering their stuff and headed out to their lockers to get their bags.

Taking his notebook and handed papers from class, he places them into his binder and heads out, having waited until Greg had left the class as he did not have time to deal with him nor his friends. He heads outside of the class, directed to his locker on the first floor.

Typical deal when at school, he opens his locker, grabs his stuff and places them in his bag, closing his locker and locking it as usual. After that is done, he walks towards the front of the school where his bicycle is with the others that rode to school on them as well. He unlocks his from the stand where it stayed put, getting up onto it, and beginning to ride home.

Not even a few seconds on the street, and here comes Greg with his own friends who see a good opportunity to bully Sean again, this time outside of school grounds.

"Look who it is, boys," Greg speaks to his friends behind him with look at me with glares and smiles on their faces as they anticipate the taunting. "It's Sean, on his way home."

"Leave me alone Greg," Sean says to him. "I'm not in any mood to deal with you at the moment."

Greg's friends get rather excited with Greg even looking rather impressed of Sean being that dismissive to him. "Aww, what's the matter Sean?" Greg taunts him. "Afraid that your momma's going to be disappointed if you are late getting home?"

"Please Greg," Sean says, his voice lowering a bit, trying not to be aggressive but more with a passive tone. "I just want to get home."

Seriously though, Sean was lucky that Greg didn't go to the same elementary and middle schools as he did.

"You hear that boys?" Greg said, turning to his friends. "Seany-Wony doesn't want us to bother him. Ohhh, boo-hoo."

In Sean's right hand, he removes it from the handle of the bike as he was stationary. His hand begins to form into a bit of a fist as his nerves with him are starting to get more annoyed. He doesn't want to attack Greg just as he doesn't want his bully attacking him, but his taunts were beginning to get a bit more past annoying.

Greg rides his bike, blocking Sean's path of leaving, staring down the boy in front of him. "You're not going anywhere," Greg says to him. "We're going to have a little fun with you."

"I really need to get home." Sean was strict on his word when he meant it by the tone of his voice.

"And be a total complete loser like you usually are?" Greg's friend Kyle taunted the boy who stood his ground the whole time.

"You've got nowhere else to go, not even home," Greg says, with a tone in his voice that sounded rather eager to give Sean harm. "I waited for the right time for you and me to get out of school..."

Sean turns down his eyes towards the stones on the ground, his brain picking up a bit of an idea. His eyes are set right back up onto the boy in front of him, who is still a bit of good distance from his face, but close enough to look threatening.

"Poor Sean, no friends, and not a care in the world for that sad, pathetic middle class life of his," Greg taunts him. "Whatever will he do?"

"Well, I know I can do something!" He exclaims to his bully.

From that moment as Greg and his friends began to laugh, Sean grabbed one of the stones on the road below his feet and chucked it right at Greg's head, missing and instead striking him in the chest with it. Sean places the both of his feet on his bike's pedals, while Greg was trying to recover from the blow.

**[Play Final Fantasy VII OST - Hurry Faster]**

"After him!" Greg yells at the rest of his friends on their bikes as Sean began to pedal as hard and as fast as he could to get away from the bullies in pursuit of him. He keeps his eyes ahead on the street, making a sharp turn to the left, directed towards the field by the forest.

Perhaps... maybe perhaps he would be able to sway the cards in his hands and get away from Greg. His bike transitions from the concrete road to the gravel path, leading onto the grass itself with Greg taking the charge after him with his friends right behind him for the chase. Sean turns his head quickly to see the distance between himself and Greg who is approaching.

Turning his head back to look ahead of him, he did not expect to have the front wheel of his bike ram right into a bit of rock from the edge of the forest side. With the slam forward, Sean is sent flying forward from his bike, falling and rolling a bit on the grass before slowly getting up.

Greg and his friends approach the scene, seeing the bike with it's now broken wheel from the impact it had on the rocks that they move to the side from seeing it. Greg gets off of his bike, walking towards Sean who is on the ground and grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

"You think you're so clever to throw rocks at me?" Greg says to him with a low-tone in his voice. "Now you will see what I can throw at you."

Greg was the first to throw a punch, slamming it into the chest of Sean, who grunts a bit from the pain that came in its aftermath. He is pushed straight to the ground as his friends gather around to keep him from running away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Greg's friend Alex taunted as Sean slowly gets up onto his feet.

"I really don't want to fight, Greg..." Sean says, not willing to put up even his own fists.

Greg has his fists kept up the whole time, glaring at Sean. "You don't? I wouldn't want to fight me neither." He says to him, running up towards him.

Sean was too late to make any quick moves to avoid being pushed from the punchs as he steps back, slipping on a bit of the wet mud near the edge of the forest and falling. He could feel himself slipping downward into the muck by the nearby trees of oak within that forest, slipped in the shadowed part where the sun wasn't shining.

When he raised his head and got ahold of his own self, he looks up, the front of his shirt and pants covered in the brown mud as he lies there, trying not to make any moves - making it look like he is hiding. Greg and his friends were laughing as they thought Sean was a target to bully too easily from what they just saw.

"Sean must be hiding down there, you should go down there!" Kyle was encouraging Greg to continue.

Greg laughs and says "Nah, I think he'll really like his new muddy appearance. You know what? Mud boy! Yeah! That's his name now!"

His friends began to laugh at hearing the sound of that name to tease Sean with. Oh good grief... another name to be taunted by. Last time in seventh grade, it wasn't the usual name-calling when they were making rumors about him and a girl in his class that didn't really care that much for him anyway.

"See you, loser mud boy!" Greg laughs, walking away with his own friends as Sean could hear the sound of their bikes as they got up on them and rode off back to their homes or to go to the nearby shopping centre.

**[Play Kingdom Hearts OST - Strange Whispers]**

Sean rises out from the mud, ready to get out from that part of the forest. He gets back up onto his feet and starts to climb up the dirt. A grip onto some mud and he falls backwards with another slip, tripping over something in the lit shadows.

He gets up, shaking his head and slowly getting up onto his feet. His eyes are then set onto the figure in front of him...

It looks to be somebody lying there in the mud, almost like someone had died there. That person was wearing a black coat with a hoodie that covered their head, their face being a bit visible, but looked to be almost the same height as Sean.

In normal situations, the best thing to do when seeing this was for someone to normally panic and go running, but Sean didn't want to make any presumptions just yet. The hooded person was still breathing, so they were still as alive as ever.

Sean moves closers to the person, eager to see the entire face of this stranger that he was seeing before his eyes. He kneels down, more of his left knee getting dirty from the mud. He slowly lifts up the person, and takes off their hoodie was a surprised expression on his face when he saw the full appearance of the mysterious figure.

It was a girl!

Her short black hair looked absolutely fine, protected by the hood of her coat from the mud. But who exactly was she? Sean had never seen this girl before, not even in any other school he went to nor the high school he went to. There had to be a clue somewhere that would help identify who this was and if she was from around here.

He searches around her, looking for any piece of identification or the usual stuff like wallet or phone that would keep said girl up to date on the time. Nothing... Maybe the tag on the neck underneath her hoodie within would tell. He opens up the back of the hoodie, looking at the tag and seeing a rather unusual name that he hadn't recognized before.

Xion.

"Sigh... on? She-on? She-oh-n?" Sean was trying to pronounce her name, but even so it would probably take some time to master on how her name is said.

His eyes turn to the top of the mud where his now-broken bike was still there. With no transportation other than the public transit, he could just leave her here and just get going back home. But something inside from his own curiosity... it was telling him something else.

He turns his head back to the girl. The blank expression on her face as she was still in such a sleep. A look of sympathy was on his face, that he really wanted to help her, and that this was the first time he was ever doing something like this.

He places an arm around the girl to keep a tight grip to prevent her from falling back into the mud. He lifts her up, carrying her with one arm as he looks about and begins moving to get out from this part of the forest and to head back home.

The only concern he would have to face is: what will he do regarding this Xion when he arrives home with his parents and other siblings around? What will he have to do to keep them from finding out that he was going to help this girl that he has never seen before?

Sean exhales a sigh. He'll figure out the rest of what to do when he gets back home.


	4. I Don't Remember

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix OST - Treasured Memories]**

Sean continued down the street where he lived, the mysterious girl was still with him, being carried with his right arm. He had been walking back home for almost half an hour, but it was quite a relief that he had made it back where he lived.

The girl in his arms, by the name of Xion... she still hasn't woke up from the moment that Sean had found her lying down in the forest. Knowing nothing about her other than the strange name and the black coat that she wore, it was somewhere inside of him that showed that he wanted to help her regardless of what trouble he could be in if he brought a girl that looked his age back home with him.

Had he even seen her at school? ...No. In fact, of the days he had been to the school, he hadn't once seen her coming out from a class, coming to lunch or leaving a class to go to the next one or to head home at the end of the day.

It's almost as if she came into existence out of nowhere to him...

His house was closing in, and Sean continued, carrying Xion with an arm around her as she still with her eyes closed, looks to be moving a little bit from walking alongside him. She's still unconscious when Sean turns to look at her. Not even her eyes has opened, to see what color they are in the case that he can remember by, as it was either eye color or face that he remembers people by.

"We're back at my house." Sean reassures the unconscious girl as he helps her down the path to the front door, getting out his copy of the house key and unlocking the door.

He pushes the door when he turns the handle down on the door, opening it up as he steps into the house, still holding onto Xion with one arm. Inside, he checks around for sounds from either the kitchen or the family room. Not a sound from any of the rooms, as he is certain that his parents are probably almost done their shifts at their workplaces.

He steps inside with the unconscious girl, taking off his shoes on the mat by the front door, closing the front door and taking careful steps as he proceeded to move upstairs, trying his best not to let Xion slip down the steps from him. He had no clue if she was already hurt from what happened before he found her, but he felt some determination to investigate into her whereabouts, even if he had not a clue where she was from.

Xion had almost slipped from his arms, but he was quick at grabbing her glove covered hand as she was almost on the verge of falling down the steps. A breath of relief slips from his mouth, pulling her slowly back to him, continuing to climb the steps with her next to him.

They reach the top of the steps fortunately, Sean keeping Xion close as he moves to his bedroom door and opens it up, entering inside to let both himself inside, having now resorted to holding onto her as he moves her towards his bed. Lying her down on the top of the covers of the bed, he slowly lets go, letting her lie there on the bed as he observes the state she was in.

He turns, closing his bedroom door on his left. He comes back, going to the side of the bed where he moves towards her, taking the hood off of Xion's head. That short black hair... it looked to be unruffled, and those eyes of hers still remained shut. There is not a sign of eye color he would remember this Xion by as long as she still slept.

"Not even a sign of you at school..." Sean talks quietly to himself, with thoughts about the girl now lying on his bed.

The sound of the garage door could be heard opening up. Sean quickly turns his head to listen, hearing a vehicle drive in. It very well could be either his mother or father that has come home from work and was going to step into the door. This spelt out bad news for him as realization slapped him across the face.

He had to hide Xion somewhere before they could come into the house. If they found out anything about bringing a girl home, he could land in huge trouble. He looks around the room, searching with the hopes of finding a hiding spot to place Xion.

Underneath the bed? No, not a chance as he did not want to take any chances of her hitting her head after waking up. Under the desk where his computer was? Way too open. She could be discovered if his parents or siblings walked into the room. He looks around some more as quick as he heard the garage door closing.

The closet? Wait... yes! The closet! He usually kept an open space in which he would walk in and check for stuff in the closet when he needed to store something or take something out. His parents and siblings don't check in there anyway... yes. It could work. With small blinds on the door, he could check on the

He carefully, yet quickly picks up Xion, bringing himself over to the closet and using one hand to pull the closet door open. Once it was open, he bends down, carefully placing Xion in a sitting position, her head hanging down as he moves her legs to squeeze her into the closet. Eventually she fit inside of the closet.

"Don't worry," He says to the unconscious girl. "I'll check up on you later tonight to make sure you're okay. I'll bring up some food."

His ears could pick up the front door opening and closing. "Sean? I'm home!" It is the sound of his mother's voice calling from downstairs as she stepped inside.

He closes the closet door behind him, turning to head towards his bedroom door, walking towards it. "Coming!" He calls back to his mother, leaving the unconscious girl alone by herself in the closet, yet to wake up.

* * *

**Xion's POV**

Darkness...

I can feel myself floating in the darkness... my eyes feel closed... It is almost like falling slowly into an endless void of nothing. But... why?

I... I don't remember what happened before, or how I ended up here...

My hands, they can feel something below as I seem to settle down on some platform. My back feels like it is positioned against a wall with not a bump to my head. What my hands feel though... it's rather soft, almost like fresh cut grass... even if it isn't pointy or pokey...

As I open up my eyes, light coming pouring into the image as my view is rather blurry for that moment. The brightness does hurt a little, but I give myself some time to let my eyes adjust to the brightness after having seemingly slept that long in the darkness. I can see light through these small, rectangular-like windows, shining in from another room with windows.

In front of me, I cannot tell if this is a strange kind of window or a door of some sort. From where I am positioned, I am unsure whether to get up in this small space, or not. Probably not... I am unsure.

Remaining where I am, I can only watch, unsure of how much time is passing quickly or slowly. Inside of my mind, I have many questions pondering.

Who... who am I? How did I end up here and where am I?

As I sat there, I am unable to express any emotion from the questions that I asked silently to myself. The color of the light over the time that I was sitting there in this small room... it would turn very slowly from a brightish white towards a illuminating orange color as the light in that room was turning towards becoming dark again as this room was. At the very least, it isn't bright anymore for my eyes.

I hear voices... From the wait, I wasn't sure it was hours or just a few minutes that had passed since I woke up and sat there, lost in my thoughts of my surroundings. I just listen in... they sound faint at first, but are picking up in volume. Footsteps are heard, whoever they are... they are coming closer.

I can hear something opening as the conversation with those two voices continues. "Are you sure you are going to be alright, Sean?" I can hear a concerned voice asking.

"Mom, I'll be alright," The voice which I believe was the mentioned Sean had spoken. "It might be a bit of time until they find another kid to go bully. Happens all the time."

"I'm just worried about you, that's all. It's not normal if they are treating you like this." The voice which I tell as this Sean's mother is heard talking.

I can hear a door opening, with the voice of this Sean sounding a lot more clear than muffled outside of what is that room. "If worst comes to worst, I can find a way to learn on how to defend myself properly."

The sound of the door closing is heard with a faint ching heard, as if there was something banging on a piece of metal. A figure steps in front of the light covering me in the shadowed dark for that moment. I can't tell if this figure wants to harm me, or just talk with me.

The windowed door in front of me slides open to the left, and from what light was there, I was able to get a good glimpse of the figure's face.

**[Play Final Fantasy IX OST - Song of Memories]**

It was a figure like me, with hands and legs... his brown colored eyes staring right directly at my own eyes. I don't know the color of my eyes unless I look in a mirror to see. He has short hair as well that was toned in the color of a dark brownish color, that was hard to glimpse at because of the outside light's reflection. I don't know what my own hair look likes nor the color of them yet.

The figure which I believe is probably the mentioned Sean, gets down on the both of his knees, moving his hands towards me and looks to be taking off this hood on the top of my head. He looks to smile as beside him, he has this circular round figure that looks... ceramic with smells coming from it.

"Hey..." He talks to me, sounding rather calm and quiet to me. He moves his hands away once he has put this hood down behind me. "You woke up."

I didn't respond to him. All I could really do was look at him, no emotion shown on my face, though he looks to be showing a small smile on his face.

"I found you lying down in the forest, drenched in that mud," He continues. "I was lucky to have found you. I've brought you home, and just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Again, no response to him but just staring and taking in everything that he is telling me. I wasn't inside here originally?

He turns, taking the round ceramic, showing me what looks to be rather edible. "I brought up some food for you to have," He says to me. "You must be hungry after all that had happened today," He takes this silverware off of the round and pokes it into one of the foods. "Here, I'll help feed you."

He brings the food closer to me, towards my mouth. I open up my mouth, taking in the piece of food that he had given to me. I chew on it, taking in the warm, taste of what I believe is rather tender and juicy... which could be meat. After a few bites I swallow it down, letting the piece get in to digest in my stomach.

"The chicken is good, isn't it?" I saw him asking me. "My mom made that, and she also made the cooked carrots and mashed potatoes for tonight's dinner."

Yet once more, not a single response. By the look on his face, it seems that he understands.

He gets more food on the silverware to feed to me. "I don't think I have introduced myself to you yet. I'm Sean."

So that is who I thought it was. Sean...

"I take it by the tag on the back of your coat, is your name. Xion, right?"

Xion... that's my name?

I eat more food that he is giving to me. I don't feel full yet, so I might as well take in as much food as I can. The chicken was probably my favorite from what he calls the 'plate', though I am certain that this probably isn't the only food that they eat here.

"It's okay," He says to me, a warm yet gentle tone in his voice as he spoke to me. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Seeing that he was feeding me, I felt that I was not threatened by any means being that he is the one who found me. The more I looked at him, the more eager I was to know more about him, even with the silence that I only had at the moment. I chew on some of the mashed potatoes that he gives to me as I think more on what is happening.

"There is a few rules here in the house as long as you are here," Sean tells me as he gets more food for me on the silverware which others look to call it as a fork. "First one is that my parents or siblings cannot know that you are here. I could get in huge trouble if they found out that I brought you back home without them knowing."

That other voice he was talking to... his mother was an obvious answer. Though I have not heard the voice of his father yet.

"Make sure that you are in a spot where no one can find you, like in this closet, should either my parents or sisters come into the house from downstairs," He continues to talk to me. "If they are not home, keep note of the time when they leave the house or arrive home by the sound of the garage door opening or closing."

The garage door? How would I know what it sounds like?

I was able to eat the plate clean of food, with a thirst coming through to my throat, a need for something liquid-related. He grabs something out of view. It is a glass filled with water. He brings it forward to me, offering me the drink.

I slowly move the both of my arms and hands, taking the drink in with my gloved hands, bringing the glass cup to my mouth and placing the edge of the cup to my lips. The water with every sip cools my throat especially from eating warm food. I took my time while he keeps an eye on me. Once I have finished the cup, I lower the glass, putting it back into his reach.

"You must have been both hungry and thirsty," He comments, keeping the friendly smile on his face. "Don't worry about me, I have already had those while I was downstairs. I just had to ask for seconds and to excuse myself from the table."

I listened to him, taking in all that he was telling me. It must be some sort of tradition of family to have dinner with them at the table...

"I'm just going to bring the plate and glass back downstairs," Sean says as I watch him gather them, taking them in the both of his hands. "Then I'm going to be doing a bit of homework and then play a video game before going to bed. I will talk more with you tomorrow to see how you are doing."

I keep an eye on him as he gets up on his feet from the carpeted floor, giving me a safe and assuring smile as he slowly closes the closet door. There I was, watching as he disappeared for a bit to the right.

A minute or two later, I can hear him coming back upstairs back into the room. I listen in as something scoots. It sounds like he has sat down and flipped open a book with loose papers. I can hear writing.

More time passes, I hear him finish writing as he opens up something. A minute later, it closes. When he appears in my sight again from the closet door's blinds, he appears to be wearing a different set of clothes. Are those clothes for bed?

He lies down on his bed, grabbing a wireless device in his hands. There is a bit of light that appears in a rectangular shape on him and the wall behind him. He doesn't look by any means blinded by this. I cannot see what he is playing, however there is music that does sound peaceful with the occasional threatening music. With an aftermath to that kind of music sounds rather much like triumph like victory.

He did play more for a while, until the voice of either his mother or father was heard. From the way it sounded, it sounds like his father.

"Time for bed Sean! Another school day tomorrow!" The voice calls out from outside of the room.

I watch as Sean gets off of the bed with the device in his hand. "Okay!" He calls back in understanding. He turns off the source of light in the room, and I watch as he goes to his bed, tucking himself underneath the sheets and turning off the light.

From there, was a sigh coming from him. By the sound of it, it was a mixture of being both tired and relieved at the same time to begin resting at last for the next day when the sun should rise again.

"Goodnight... Xion..."

Hearing his voice wish me a good night, somewhere inside of me felt that this was more a blessing that he had found me. But I wasn't sure on how I would express on it just yet. That smile earlier... he seemed so happy to find me. Was he talking to me because he... he felt lonely?

I might as well get some rest until the next day comes. Perhaps I will see him again in the morning. I allow the tired expression to come across me until I have closed my eyes, ready to rest again... in the safe hopes of knowing that I won't be dreaming of floating in the darkness alone again.

Goodnight Sean... see you tomorrow.


	5. The Icing on the Cake

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 3 OST - Lazy Afternoons]**

Sean sat there at the table in the busy cafeteria by himself. On the table in front of him is the food that he has purchased from the kitchen itself, the smell of fresh french fries and a steaming hamburger with cheese, pickles and lettuce featured as additions for the meal as he sat there eating slowly and letting his thoughts be his main priority while making sure he had the things he needed to eat.

Even after this morning, he couldn't stop thinking about Xion. He remembered from such a long few hours ago when his alarm clock had awakened him to go change and check up on Xion before heading downstairs for the usual Tuesday waffle breakfast.

What made him think of Xion though? Was it the mystery behind her and why she didn't speak? Not a single bit of emotion was seen on her face when he talked to her. Just only the sight of her blue ocean-like eyes looking right back at him.

From the moment he had arrived at the school, the first thing he had done was find another route into the school building and waited until Greg and his friends had finished in the hallway where his locker was. No one had commented on why he was hiding from them, but they pretty much had an understanding on why Greg was one of the mean boys around the secondary school.

So far, most of the school day had been going well, it was the usual run of starting first period in Geography followed by a second period in the usual Math class. Thank goodness that it was lunch on the third period as he knew that Greg had lunch on the fourth period with the rest of his friends that were usually with him. He wouldn't end up seeing him until fifth period but knew himself not to speak with him unless he wanted to be attacked or taunted again.

He continued to eat the rest of his fries after having finished his burger, listening to the numerous crowds of teenagers whose age was either the same as his or more older by a year or more.

It was the usual conversations that any other teenager would talk about. Their girlfriends, video games especially for the nerds on the other side of the cafeteria on their laptops, and the typical girls talking about how cute certain boys were. Not a single girl here at the school spoke to him except for the teenagers. The only other time that a female classmate would talk to him was if it was a class project that he was assigned with. Other than that, he and his classmates didn't really share anything common.

But since discovering Xion... this was someone he could talk to, regardless if she was a girl. He felt something inside. A sense of relief over talking to someone, even if she didn't speak.

Inside, a question was on his mind the more he looked at all of the students walking alongside one another and talking to each other as they walked. Even though talking to her with her only listening, he felt like that could be something that he could do with her outside of the house instead of just keeping her all cooped up in the closet to hide from his parents and siblings.

Something like what these students were sharing... friendship.

It all came to his mind. Maybe take her somewhere to get ice cream? Yes... that could work out well. But what flavour to get for both him and her?

The many flavours of ice cream begin to picture into his mind. Vanilla? Chocolate? Too basic... Rocky road? Not really sure. Caramel? Strawberry? Cookies & Cream? Pistachio? Probably not pistachio, so scratch that off of the list... maybe sea salt... that could work perhaps as it is his second favorite flavor.

He will have to wait until school is finished to get her out of the house to share ice cream. Even if she didn't talk, Sean felt a bit of happiness inside to be able to talk to someone he had just started to know - whom came from nowhere.

For now, classes first, avoiding Greg during and after school second and then friendship time with Xion last.

* * *

**Xion's POV**

I sat there in the closet in the same position that I had been in since the moment I first woke up yesterday. I can only stare ahead at the closet door which light shone in from Sean's bedroom.

The day surprisingly has started to feel very long from the moment I woke up this morning. I would just sit there and wait, seeing if Sean was going to come back from a place that he calls 'school'. He ended up telling me before he left that he was going there and will be back to see me again.

I felt the need to move, so I begin to move my legs and prop myself forward as I am getting up slowly, being careful not to hit my head on the iron, silver-like pole that had my own reflection on it in a strange kind of layer. A mirror layer, perhaps?

My hands slowly begin to lift, reaching and grabbing onto the door itself. Though very unsure how strong it could be, I give it a bit of what strength I believe is inside of me, allowing the door to slide to the left, revealing more of the room.

In a much brighter light and nothing to partially block my view, I slowly poke out and observe every one of the surroundings for what is Sean's room itself. In the corner on the top of what looks like a cabinet of some sort... is a rectangular shaped box that is rather thin... I can take that is where the light came from when Sean was playing a video game last night.

Slowly bringing my hand up towards the strange box, I reach towards it to touch it, finding that has a rather hard seemingly hard surface. I held my glove covered hand onto the surface of the box for a few more moments, letting my eyes study the box. I can see funny small shapes on the box itself, with text above them.

Off? Volume with plus and minus signs?

I'm not sure what the shapes will do, but I wasn't sure how Sean would feel about me touching anything in his room. There is a rectangular shaped wall with a handle to my right that is not like the windows or anything else in the rest of the room. It reminds me a lot of the closet and how you open and close it...

I can hear a noise downstairs. It sounded like the noise that this strange wall had made when Sean had entered the room. Is this also a door, but designed differently? It sounds like it was closing twice. And then there is thumping that sounds soft at first, but begins to get louder with each half second that came and went as I stood there, my eyes watching the door as the sound grew closer.

The handle on the strange door shape... it is turning. The door of what I can decipher as wood designed. Then there is a bit of light coming into the room as I can see a familiar figure that I recognized come into the room...

Sean.

His expression had changed as soon as he had seen me standing there. A look that was showing eagerness had dropped to being rather hurried as he quickly walked over towards me with great worry. The look from his brown eyes could also tell me that as well.

"Xion, what are doing outside from the closet?" He questioned, with worry as if I was in trouble that I had no idea of. I'm not sure how to react.

He looks around quietly for a bit, seeming to listen to hear if there was anyone else in the house. After listening, he turns and looks at me still holding onto that face of concern. "You've got to really be careful when stepping outside from the closet. It could have been either one or both of my parents that could have stepped into the room unexpectedly."

As he was telling me this, my face still remains blank - unable to form an emotion on how to feel about this. I didn't know if I did something wrong or not...

"But they still haven't come home yet, so I think we should be safe. On top of that, I thought up an easier to get you inside instead of sneaking you in through the front door. Because my mom and dad will probably start asking me questions eventually," He takes my glove covered hand, my feet moving as he guides me towards the open door. "Come on, I'll show you."

I follow him as he brings me to a set of stairs. I carefully begin walking down the steps, but my right foot loses its footing and I slip forward, with Sean's back used as a pillow to catch me in my fall.

"Are you alright?" He asked me.

Again, no response from me, but the blank expression on my face studying his emotions, his movements as well as everything around me.

"I've got you, don't worry." He says to me, guiding me down the steps, slowly one step at a time.

Once we both were at the bottom of the steps, he lets go of my hand for a moment. I watch as he is putting his shoes on and tying them up before getting back up and turning to look at me.

He takes my hand again, opening up the front door and leaving the building with me alongside him. He closes the door behind him, taking out a key of some sort which I believe locks the house to keep it safe. A tug forward and I move along, watching as he guides me to the other side of the house with looks completely different from the front side.

There is a strange tall object leaning on the side of the building. Sean turns to look at me as he begins to explain what it is and what part of the house this is.

"That's a ladder. My parents and sisters don't really go into the backyard, so you shouldn't really have any trouble sneaking out from the room. Though if you are when they are here, you'll have to do it really quietly."

This... is a backyard here?

"Also, mind the neighbors as well. This part is known to be a quiet neighborhood, so they don't particularly enjoy any kind of loud noise unless it is public service doing their job to clean the streets or fix the roads."

Neighborhood... So I have to be quiet here?

"I know, my neighborhood isn't as exciting as the other ones around me that like to party. But at least where I am taking you, it'll be a lot more exciting there. As long as it doesn't overwhelm you, of course. We'll find a spot at the harbor and just watch ships coming in from out at sea and have ice cream."

Ice... cream?

Still holding onto my hand, I walk along with him as he guides me back to the front of the house, onto the sidewalk where I begin to move away from the house he brought me to. From what I know now, he is taking me to go get this ice cream.

I turn my head with the still blank expression on my face, glancing for a moment as he looks quite happy to bring me along with him outside of the house. Despite the brightness from above in the sky, the air around me smells a lot more fresh. I turn my head back forward, looking directly at where we were going.

* * *

**[Play Final Fantasy VIII OST - Fisherman's Horizon]**

We were at the harbor, as my boots stepped onto the wooden platform, my eyes set out on the glimmering waters that the ball of light, which Sean calls the sun, reflected light from. Sean is still holding onto my glove covered hand, as me and him continue towards the end of the platform.

The platform above the water at the end, has a few benches that overlook the ocean itself, with only a few people observing the beachs below with everyone tanning, surfing on the gentle waves or just taking a walk on the sands or sitting on the rocks to listen to the waves.

I continue alongside Sean until we have reached a bench that provided a good view of the sea and the boats coming in. He looks at me, a small smile lit up on his face. "Sit down Xion," He tells me, letting go of my hand. "Wait there. I'm going to go and get ice cream for the both of us."

I look at him as he tells me this. I turn to the bench, taking a seat in the middle as my eyes watch him go over towards a booth, in line with a few other customers looking to get ice cream as well. As he waits to get to the booth, I turn around with my eyes set directly towards the ocean ahead of me.

It looks rather beautiful itself. I have never seen anything like this before...

Though the sight of it feels rather familiar, I couldn't quite remember nor put my finger on it of where I have seen this before... the earliest memory that I have is that of floating in darkness and waking up inside of Sean's closet where he was hiding me. If that is the case, why does this feel familiar?

I waited for some time, letting the gentle breeze with the sound of occasional ship horns in the distance fill into my ears as well as the waves below the dock and the birds above in the sky cawing to one another.

A form of communication with those animals...

The sound of footsteps grabs my attention as I turn my head to the right and see that Sean has come back from the booth with two ice cream in the both of his hands. "Sorry about that," He says to me with a bit of a chuckle. "You know the customers, plus I had to find out what flavors there were right there, but I got the right ones for us."

His left hand offers me on the stick, a blue colored ice cream. I brought my right hand forward, taking the stick of ice cream in my hand and looking at it as he takes a lick of his ice cream.

He looks at me. I look back at him as he is giving me a smile, holding the same colored ice cream in his right hand.

"This one is called sea salt ice cream," He explains to me. "I'm not really sure how to describe the taste, but all I can say is that it has a salty taste with sweetness within. It's my second favorite flavor of ice cream, with rocky road being my number one favorite."

I look from him at the ice cream in my hand. Sea salt ice cream...

"Go on," He says to me with a calm voice. "Give it a try."

I take a bite into the ice cream, taking in all of the flavor with each bite that I took. After I swallowed from the first bite, I figured that Sean was telling the truth when he was describing the ice cream's taste to me.

Salty, but sweet...

"_The icing on the cake..._"

That voice... it didn't sound like Sean's voice, but it sounded rather different, as if I had heard it before. I can see everything go to white around me, with color returns from that flash, as I find that the environment was shifting around me.

* * *

_Instead of wooden floors of the harbor, my feet were there, hanging down from what had changed from a bench into the edge of a tower. I make no quick reaction to any of these changes I am seeing as I take in the sight of the light setting down towards the horizon ahead of me._

_Down below, stretching far towards the sea side ocean ahead, it's a town I am seeing. I turn my head around to the left and look up._

_It's a giant clock. Is this... a tower that supports the clock itself?_

_I turn my head to my right after having looked in that direction. To my right, there is someone else sitting next to me. It's not Sean. He looks completely different from what he looks like._

_The boy turns and looks at me. His blue eyes... kind of like mine. And that blonde hair of his. He is wearing the exactly same clothing as I am. His eyes are studying me. In his right hand, he is holding two sea salt ice creams, like the one that Sean had given to me._

_"This is such a great spot..." I find myself speaking to the boy. "How'd you find it?"_

_The boy turns for a moment, taking his left hand and gripping it onto one of the two ice cream sticks. Moving his left hand over to me, he offers me the ice cream._

_"Here you go." He says to me in a calm voice as I take it with my right hand, looking and studying the ice cream in my hand. As I am looking at it, he is giving me quite a confident, gentle smile. "Sea salt ice cream. C'mon, try it."_

_I nod in understanding, bringing the ice cream to my mouth and taking a bite from it. Letting the flavor set in, I finally spoke of what I had tasted. "It's sweet... and salty."_

_"It's good, right?" The boy spoke to me as I turn and look at him with a smile on my face."... and I, we meet up here for ice cream after work." He turns and takes a bite from his stick for that sensation of sea salt ice cream. "This flavor is ...'s favorite."_

_"Sounds like it's yours, too." I responded to him._

_"Yeah." He responds back as he stares at the image in the distance. "... brought me here to eat ice cream on my first day with the Organization."_

_Organization? What does he mean by Organization, and when he mentions his friend's name, why is it silent and muted as if a name never existed?_

_"And then after my first mission," He continued as he turns to look at me again. "He got me ice cream again. Said it was 'icing on the cake'."_

_"Like you just did for me?" I asked him._

_He nods, keeping the warm smile on his face. "Yeah." He responds, with relaxed happiness in his voice._

_"You guys must be really close." I spoke to him, turning to look at the image ahead of us._

_"Well, ... and I are friends."_

_"Friends..." I pondered on the meaning of what friends was before turning to look at the boy. "Do you think I could be a friend?" I asked him._

_He turns and looks at me again. "When ... gets back, we'll all have ice cream together!"_

_"Okay!" I responded to his statement before joining him in continuing to eat sea salt ice cream and watching the view from above._

_This... is this... a memory I am experiencing...?_

* * *

"Xion..."

"...Xion?"

My attention was brought back into reality. It was Sean's voice calling my name. I am still seated there on the bench where he and I were together. I turn my head to look at him, he is giving me this expression on his face. A face of possible concern.

"Are you okay, Xion?"

I just stared at him, taking another bite of sea salt ice cream from my hand as my own blue eyes are staring at his brown colored eyes. He looks like as if he doesn't know how to respond to me, but just exhales a bit of quiet breath. I'm not sure how he feels, but from what I can only guess, he just feels happy to have me there. Someone to talk to.

I am surprised that even myself hasn't said anything to him just yet. Why? I'm not sure... was I still getting to know Sean a little more? I mean, it is nice that he had given me sea salt ice cream.

But even from his eyes as he turns and looks down at his ice cream, I can sense that something is wrong. He feels... down. A frown is there on his mouth. Is it sadness? Why is he sad?

He takes a bite from his ice cream, trying not to let it melt. I continue to stare at him and watch him as his expression remains the same on his face. I wanted to ask him if something was wrong.

I wanted to ask him, to give him some sort of assurance... I just... I just didn't know how.

The only spark inside me is the hope that I will speak to him. Hopefully soon... or far in the future. I can only wish that it will be a lot sooner...

Like that boy in my memory that I don't remember... he spoke of his friend being a friend to me as well as him... a friend...

Does Sean need a friend...?

Am I his only friend...?

I continue to sit with him next to me as the both of us stare at the boats going closer to the harbor of boats and afar ahead into the distance of the sea. I think he'll let us be here for some time until it is time to go back to his house, quietly of course. It's quite a beautiful view from where he has taken me.

If Sean really is in need of a friend...

...Then even in my silence... I would be happy to be his friend.


	6. School

**A/N: I want to start off this chapter by saying how sorry I am for not updating this for a while. Reason due to the fact that I have life commitments being a reasonable excuse, as well as work and trying to wish that things will go back to normal from the pandemic. I want to see my friends and go to concerts again, but I feel like I am restricted from doing so. It's almost like being placed in bubble wrap.**

**But hey, I do have music, Final Fantasy VII - X and this story to keep me busy. I'm really enjoying the OG Final Fantasy VII a lot, and I'm already probably halfway through the second part of the game. Next game on the playlist is definitely the Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind DLC, as I am way overdue on playing it.**

*** All credit for the characters Sari and Rickson belong to Antex-The Legendary Zoroark.**

* * *

**Xion's POV**

There is the sound of an alarm clock ringing which slowly stirs me awake from the deep slumber that I was in. My eyes begin to open up, a bit blurred from the light of the morning sun streaming in from the windows in Sean's room and into the closet. My ears can pick up the sound of Sean's groaning and moving in bed to see the alarm clock.

**[Play Final Fantasy VIII OST - Blue Fields]**

I think he stopped the alarm clock because he slammed his hand onto something, which halted that noise. Probably good as in my sleep, that what I heard is called 'beauty sleep' according to some people around here. I sit there, waiting as Sean starts to get up out of bed, going towards the closet to come and see me.

He opens up the sliding door, getting down to look at me as my eyes stare right back at him. "Good morning Xion." He says to me with a smile.

I was silent as many times before when seeing his face. By the look on his face, I think he has some good news to tell me. I wonder what it is then.

"Today is another school day for me," Sean says to me, the expression on his face having never changed. "It'll be different than leaving you by yourself here at the house. I'd like for you to come and see the school and see everything," He pauses, letting himself go into small thought before continuing. "Well, minus the classes of course."

School? I'm going... to his school? I thought that I was going to be staying here in the closet again today like usual.

"Exciting, isn't it?" Sean says to me. "You'll get to see everything and what school life is like for me. Though, there are a few things to know."

A few things? Maybe it is rules... kind of like the rules he has given to me when his parents or sisters are home. Would I have to keep quiet? Will I have to not be seen by anyone else but him?

"Just act as if you are a student at the school, and try not to get the attention of the teachers while you are there."

I look at him, understanding everything that he is telling me. Kind of like how I shouldn't be caught by his parents, I should be careful as well while I am visiting his school. He glances at me for a few moments and then, starts to get up.

"I'll be sure to save you some breakfast while we go on our way there," He says to me, leaving the closet door open for me to leave from. "Keep an eye on the clock and meet me at the ladder outside of my bedroom. You can climb out the window to get down to the backyard."

After listening to every word that he says, he turns and heads towards his drawers, getting out some of his clothes. I then hear the drawers close and he heads outside of his bedroom to go downstairs to have breakfast with the rest of his family. The family that I haven't seen just yet.

I saw there for a bit, just waiting until eventually the thought came to my head of my decision to look around his bedroom some more. I slowly start to get up onto my two feet. I peek out from the closet for a moment and proceed to walk quietly and carefully outside of it, looking around at the room's interior.

Being that I recall hearing noises from the box that produced light and sounds, I was quite eager to know the sources of what there was at the top of the drawer where it rested. I tread carefully, being careful not to touch anything in case it made noise to get attention to the room. My eyes will be of use for glancing at everything, studying on what was there.

Beside the box, there is a more rectangular shaped system with some sort of logo on it. PlayStation? Is that what this slim box is called? Is this what was making the music and sounds from the box?

There are more smaller boxes on the back of the 'PlayStation', and could see a few titles on those boxes. Some of them had interesting titles... with interesting characters on them to describe the kind of art, even if I didn't know who they were.

At the nearby stand next to the drawers, there is some sort of other box that looks similar to the box on top of the drawers. Below it is this flat long rectangular object with buttons that had letters and numbers on them. I didn't exactly know what they were for... did Sean use that?

I knew not to touch his stuff, as I did not want to attract any attention from anyone. When Sean was there, he knew he would help be a lot more careful.

I kept my ears open, listening to the muffled sounds of conversation downstairs. I'm unsure as to what Sean and his family are talking about. It goes on for a bit of a while, and then it goes a bit quiet. Still there are talking downstairs, but without a single voice who I recognized as Sean's. There is the sound of movement and then a door opening and closing. Perhaps that is the front door.

The muffled conversation continues downstairs quietly, while I continue to take a look around and observe Sean's room. I turn towards his bed, moving towards it and placing my glove-covered hand on the fabric of it. I can't... feel what its texture is like, but I can only feel the softness of the sheet on top.

There is a tap at one of the windows in the room. I turn my head, my blue eyes staring right at the window where the tap had originated from. There is another tap and I could see what was causing the tapping... a pebble. From rocks itself.

I walk over curiously, taking a glance outside of the bedroom window, looking down to see Sean standing there and waving for me to come outside. He shows me how to open up the window by using his hands to gesture me to opening up the window.

Once the window was opened up, I remembered where the ladder was next to the house. I slowly and calmly move to the ladder, closing the window right behind me carefully to not attract any sound from it. I slowly move downward while I can hear Sean calmly telling me to take each step carefully.

When my feet touch the ground, he approaches me. "Good job Xion," He tells me. "Hopefully we'll be able to do that on Saturdays and Sundays. I can't just let you stay cooped up in there, as you'll need as much of the fresh air you can get."

I look at him as he is telling me this, before he signals for me to walk with him. "Come, I can't wait for you to see my school." He says to me.

As he turns and begins to walk away, I stood there, watching him before making the first move and beginning to catch up alongside him for the long walk with him. I knew that we weren't going back to the same harbour like last time. So I was curious to know what this school he went to looked like.

* * *

**[Play Final Fantasy VIII OST - Balamb Garden]**

The building itself which was supposed Sean's school looks much larger than I expected. I can see other people that look to be his age or more in years entering or hanging around the outside of the building conversing in their own subjects that I didn't exactly hear. He continues walking alongside me, turning to look at me.

"This is my school Xion," He says to me. "This is high school for me. There is elementary and middle school, but I've since graduated from those places. Now that I am here, this is where I am to learn more on the subjects that I haven't got to in the past grades."

Interesting...

"Come on, let's go inside," He turns to look ahead as he continued to talk with me. "I can show you around the place before my class begins."

I listened, knowing that when time came for him to do what he needed to do here, I will have to find a place to hide from all of the other people who could probably try to ask questions on where I came from and why I was here. This was my first time here other than Sean's house and the harbor and I would be completely surrounded by total strangers.

I didn't know them... I wasn't sure if they were going to be friendly. Sean... he's friendly. But I linger on the question is if there are other friendly people here in this school.

The hood of my coat was off of my head, allowing my head to breathe. It is a fairly warm weather, with a slight breeze of signaling a change in the weather. A season coming to an end for another one as Sean was telling me a few days ago... was it autumn he was talking about?

I go up to the front doors of the building with Sean, with him opening up the door for me to go through first. I pause there, standing there for a moment to look at him. That warm look on his face to assure me that it would be okay, I look ahead again and go through, him following right behind me.

"The cafeteria is right there in front of us, with classrooms to the right and the library on the left," His calm voice is guiding me, letting me know which place here was which. "The staircase is on the right as well, but don't go up there. You might be caught by a teacher if you aren't careful up there. The safest place for you would definitely be the cafeteria or the library, depending on if you used to being in crowded places."

The cafeteria sounds like something that he and the other people called students here were likely to go to.

"There's books in the library if you are bored and want to read something," Sean continued. "And if you are hungry, there is always food in the cafeteria that are being served, though you'll probably have to wait in line and have something called money in order to pay for the food."

I watch as he reaches into the pockets of his denim jeans, taking out these small, thin rectangular shaped items. Is that what money looks like? He moves it towards me and offers it to me.

"Here, take it," He says to me with a smile, waiting patiently as I slowly reach forward to take the money. "It's about $20, but it should be enough to cover the costs for what food you decide to buy."

Having taken the offered money, I place it into the right pocket of my black coat, looking right back at him. Even when he is telling me this and assuring that I am going to be okay, there is this strange feeling inside of me. It's almost as if I do not want to be alone again like I usually am at his place. I felt like I wanted to go with him to his class to see what the classrooms looked like.

There is the sound of loud ringing heard throughout the interior of the building. I was very confused and startled by the sudden loud noise that it was making. It sounds kind of like a bell... the one on Sean's box in the room that made light and noise as well. Sean doesn't look startled though, and when he sees my confusion and me looking where the noise was coming from - he places his hand onto my left shoulder and keeps the gentle look in his eyes.

"That's the sound of the bell, signaling for all of the students to go to their assigned classes," He tells me, turning to the left, down the hallway to where his classes would probably be. He looks back at me. "Head to either the library or the cafeteria. I'll see you at lunch time."

Like that, he removes his hand from my shoulder and begins to make his way down the hallway to get to his class as it looked like he didn't want to be late. Other students were on their way to their classes as well, some coming in the same direction or to the left. Probably past the library is where their other classes were.

He is right. I should probably pick either. I don't want to linger too long here, should a teacher come along and notice me. I turn my blue eyes towards the doors to the cafeteria, walking over and approaching to open it.

Peeking inside of the large room, the room itself looked to have a bunch of tables with seats applied to them. Probably where the others like to sit and eat their food. The door to where the food was being made, I can smell a bit of the food that was there.

I don't feel hungry, as Sean made sure to give me some food to eat on the way to his school.

I see a spot over at the end of the room, and slip into the room - walking over towards that spot there and just taking a seat on the other side, to glimpse at the door so I could see who was coming in or out of the room. Probably will see Sean when he comes here to find me.

I sat there at the table, keeping my blue eyes on the door and just waiting as the grasp of time continued to move on. Even so, I still couldn't tell if it was going by fast or slow. I just remained where I was the whole time.

* * *

There is the ringing of the same bell eventually, coming about again. Following that a minute or two after, there are a few people that come in to take a set at random tables to hold conversations of their own. They don't seem to notice me sitting there. Are these people here for lunch, or are they not in class?

One of the people who are in the cafeteria, right from across the room. Those eyes of hers, which look to be completely different from what I have seen, are looking directly at me. I kept my blank expression as I watch her getting up out of the seat she was sitting at, walking right over towards my table with such a smile on her face. Couldn't tell if she was wanting to make conversation with me...

**[Play Final Fantasy IX OST - Eiko's Theme]**

"Hello there!" The girl says to me, giggling a bit. "I haven't seen you here before. Are you a new student here?"

I don't respond to her, but I take a look at her, taking in as much information on her appearance as possible. The color of her eyes that I had almost forgotten to mention, her left eye had a sapphire blue tone of color, while her right was the tone color of an emerald green. A strange color and pattern as there usually would be when it comes to eye color. Her hair color is a shade of red which was in-between and wasn't too dark nor too light - plus it was tied in a ponytail like I have seen with other girls that were around the age of Sean.

Glimpsing quickly to her ears, I could see two earrings on each side of her own ears in the colors of white and blue. They both look to be in the shape of a round ball with some sort of ring around it. For what she is wearing, it looks to be a simple blue tank top, denim jeans along with pink converse low-tops as it describes for her shoes. Kind of like Sean's, except his are black high-tops. Around her neck is some necklace which is made of materials that I have yet to find out, with a diamond ring on her right hand and a pearl ring on her left.

"Ummmmm, hello?" She says to me, playfully using her hand and forming it to carefully knock on the top of my head in a joking, fun manner. "Earth to this stranger, you paying attention?"

...Why is she using her hand to knock on my head? Shouldn't that be used at a door?

I continue to stare at her as she does not hesitate, taking a seat right next to me. "Thank goodness that I have found someone to talk to. Everyone else here at the school isn't really that interested. It's all 'guy-talk' and video games... not really my taste."

I do not respond to her, just taking in the conversation that she is trying to share with me. She gives off an expression at me, wondering if I am going to say anything at all.

"Not a talkative one, are you?" She commented before another smile appears on her mouth. "That's okay! Even if you are a quiet one, you can definitely be my friend! I definitely won't take no for an answer there!"

This girl... a friend? But I don't even know her...

"Well, I believe it is the right time to introduce myself so that I don't come off as a completely total stranger to you," She says to me. "I'm Sari! But if you want, you can call me by my nickname Sar. Either way, I'm quite happy."

Sari... Sean... two people I now know. Though I have to know Sari more...

"I really like your short hair," She commented on my black hair. "It really fits your style, though the coat is something I keep wondering about."

Again, not a single response made to her. But I like the style that her hair is in as well. I wonder what it would look like naturally without a ponytail. As I know there have been girls here without that.

"...Aren't you going to say something?" She asked me, with a bit of a questioned, curious tone in her voice.

I don't know what to say. I haven't said anything yet since the moment I came here to this world, with no idea how I even got there in the first place.

Sari stays seated next to me, then saying to me. "Even if you are a quiet type of person, you are going to be friends with me no matter what!" She tells me, eager on having to get to know me.

Well, if she is that insisting on forming a friendship with me, I guess that will be okay... Maybe Sean knows a lot more about her. Maybe she knows a bit about Sean...

"What do you like?" She asks me. "For me, I really like flowers."

Flowers... like the ones that grow in front of Sean's house and every other house that I have seen?

"My favorite flowers are the daffodils and forget-me-nots," She tries to make conversation with me while I listen to her. Forget-me-nots? An interesting name for a flower... "What is your favorite flower?"

No response. Other than the flowers I have seen in front of Sean's house and his neighbors, I wasn't that sure.

Sari looks like she is thinking about something. Then an excited expression on her face was showing afterwards. "Hey! If you aren't busy, maybe one day when we know each other a little better, you could come to my place! I have a whole bunch of flowers there in the backyard. You'd really like them!"

...Well, if I do know you better like I do with Sean... then yes.

"Why don't I show you around the school? Don't worry about the teachers, they got other students to deal with that are quite troublesome." She offers to me.

I'm not sure... teachers or not, I believe I should stay here like Sean suggested. Though to say otherwise, Sari insistently takes my right hand. She at least, made sure that I got out of the seat at the table before being pulled along with her, who looks really joyful about talking to me.

"As you can see," Sari says to me, guiding me around the interior of the school building as we both make our way out of the cafeteria and are heading to the right. "That, right over there is the school library, but it is also connected as a public library."

Sean told me about the library already...

"Down the hall over there past it, are where the drama and arts classes are, as well as the music classes for those with those wangy-tangy instruments that you would see in an orchestra. The drama classes though, they usually put on a school performance or talent show every few months. The christmas performance usually stands out a lot to me though, and I remember when I did that in the sixth grade back in middle school."

I didn't have too much time to take a long glance down the hallway of classes which are lineup with thin doors and strange locks on them until Sari pulled me along to the left, down to where more classrooms were.

"Down here is where the school office is, as well as classrooms for those in history, english, french, spanish, mathematics... you get it at this point." She guides me.

...Yes... She sounds a little bit stubborn when I'm trying to tell her that she doesn't have to give me all of the details. But I cannot speak... yet. Oh well...

"Well, well, well..."

**[Play Final Fantasy VII OST - Turks Theme]**

A voice from behind us caught our attention, and it wasn't a girl but more sounded like a boy. But it didn't sound like Sean either. I turn around, with Sari letting go of my hand, giving off a glare towards this boy and his other friends that are with him.

"Look who it is," The boy says to Sari, a hand on his hip. By the way his voice sounds, he seems rather more... I'm not sure how to describe it. I should probably let Sari do the talking. "It's chattermouth who can't stop talking for once, with a new friend."

...Who is that? Chattermouth? That sounds mean.

"Go away Greg," Sari warns the boy, groaning with annoyance. By the way she had groaned, this boy named Greg sounded like bad news. "Do you think that acting like such a bully is going to make you look better than any other boy here in the school?"

"Come on Sari," His friend to the left of Greg says to her. "Give it a break for a while with all of your talking. Maybe... shut up."

"What did you say?!" She warned. "I'll tell on you!"

Greg and his friends begin to start howling with laughter over that threat that Sari made to them. They are not at all intimidated by it at all, with his attention now turned towards me, taking a few steps towards me as I look at him blankly, directed at the green eyes of his. I do not look intimidated either, as I look brave in front of her... even if I can't say anything back to him.

"I saw you coming here to school, with that loser boy Sean," Greg says to me, grabbing my attention upon the mention of that name Sean. He knows Sean? Why would he call Sean a loser boy? "You must be his girlfriend or something..."

"Oooooh," His friend says in a taunting way. "Sean the mud boy's got a girlfriend!"

Well, he is my friend... but a girlfriend? What?

I hear his other friend on his right as he talks, joining in the conversation. "I bet Sean goes all kissy-kissy for this girl."

"All of you, leave the girl alone!" Sari says, standing in front of me to not let Greg get any closer to me. "If Sean knows her, then it's not your concern. It's his business if he is dating her or not!"

...Dating? What's that?

"Or what?" Greg responded back, a clever smile on his face. "I'm surprised a loser like Sean would hang around this girl."

Sari held her position in front of Greg and his friends before he just scoffs in a mocking way, turning around and walking in the opposite direction, right past us.

"Kyle, Lucas, let's go. We've got no time to deal with a chatterbox and a mud boy's girlfriend." He says to them as they depart.

Sari turns around, shouting at them as they leave. "You better leave us alone! Don't you even think of trying to bully my new friend or Sean... whoever he is!" Even though they laugh in response to that statement, we stood our ground and watched as the boys head towards a set of doors and exit through them. She then turns to look at me, as I look at her in return. "Are you okay? I hope their comments didn't hurt you."

No response. Just a blank expression on my face, taking in everything that I saw.

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix OST - Lazy Afternoons]**

"I'm not a chatterbox at all! The nerve of that boy calling me that!" Sari just about was angry, thinking about that. She stops me for a moment, seeing that I was right there. She breathes in through her nose, holding it for one or two seconds and then exhales, repeating twice. Is that an exercise on calming down?

"I'm sorry that you had to deal with that too," Sari says to me. "That Greg is always up to no good. I'm just hoping that we won't see him again at the end of the day."

My eyes were caught away from Sari, and was taking focus down the hallway, seeing a boy sitting there on the ground who had watched the whole thing before resting his head on his arms which were on top of his knees from his sitting position.

Taking in a good glimpse at the boy, I was able to get some details on his own appearance. He looked like the usual human... kind of like Sean and Sari... me as well. He has an average body build, looks fit even for his lean appearance, with his lengthy arms possessing some muscle. I couldn't see his face nor his eyes, but his hair is the color of black with red streaks at the ends of them, the length of them going to his neck. From where I was standing, I can see that like Sari, he too has earrings, but with one that I can see looks like a cross. He wears a black shirt, green shorts, and running shoes. On his wrist, I caught the glimpse of a wristwatch that is sprayed with gold. But his skin... it's rather light. I'm not talking pale white, but rather peach skinned. In his ears, he has earphones in - like the ones I have seen in Sean's room.

"Are you looking at Ricky over there?" I can hear Sari next to me, grabbing my attention back to look at her.

I nod to her, understanding her question she had asked me.

"We call him Ricky, but the teachers here call him by his full first name, Rickson. He... well, let's just say that he is known to be avoided by everyone else in the school. Because of past tense back in Grade 10. I'd be careful with him." She whispers to me.

Does Sean know anything about this Rickson that Sari has mentioned to me? I wonder if he does...

"Come on," Sari says to me. "Lunch is probably going to start very soon. So we should get going to the cafeteria to have some food."

I follow along behind her, only turning my head around to take a glimpse at Rickson one more time. He remains in the same position that I last saw him in before turning back around to have lunch with Sari... and possibly Sean if I see him there.

* * *

The bell rang again while I sat there next to Sari in the cafeteria who probably has talked my ear off from the last couple of minutes. More people which were known as students here began to gather around in the large room, going to different tables or just getting ready to line up at the kitchen to get their food and pay for it.

I remembered the money that Sean had given to me before he had left to go to his classes. I took it out from my coat's right pocket, recalling that it had a value of $20. My stomach makes a bit of a groan itself that I could feel myself. I guess I might have started to get a bit hungry. Nothing wrong at this time to get some food.

"Are you hungry?" Sari asked me, watching as I get up from the table to go to the line where the students were going. "I'm coming to join you. I can help you out with helping pick out the foods you want to have."

...I guess you can join...

Walking towards near the start of the line, I was stopped by a few of the students who were giving me these rather strange looks upon their faces. They didn't seem too happy with me wanting to go in and get my food. I wonder why...

"Hey, did you read the sign?" One of the tall students with red, ginger-like hair says to me in a snobbish tone. "You're supposed to line up behind us like all of the others. Back of the line with you."

Sari took my hand and is apologizing to the disappointed students as she guides me towards the back of the line with her. "So sorry about my friend!" She says to them. "She's new here!"

Glimpsing the student rolling their eyes in annoyance, at this point, I am quite happy that she is there to keep me aware of what is really going on. Being that we weren't far away from the cafeteria doors, I feel content to be close by the doors to the kitchen where the aroma of food being made drives a bit of saliva in my mouth which I swallow down, eager to have whatever is there... well, the affordable foods offered.

"Be careful," Sari says to me, a bit of concern in the tone of her voice as we stopped in front of a kid that is the same height as me. "I almost forgot to tell you that there is a set of rules here, like having to line up for food here."

I look at her in understanding, a blurred figure in my vision of looking at her as she is telling this to me. Turning my blue eyes from her to look at the recognizable figure in my vision, I recognized that student as Sean who is looking for me.

He turns to his left, seeing me and taking what I figure is a sigh of relief. He must have thought that I disappeared on him. I wouldn't... I knew that. I'd never leave my first friend here behind.

"Xion!" He calls out my name as he walks towards me.

My new friend turns her head, seeing Sean coming to join us. She was wondering who was calling that name. When she saw that it was him, she held an expression her face that asks if I knew who this was.

"There you are," Sean says to me, a weak smile on his face as he joins us. "I can see you made a new friend."

"You know who she is?" Sari asks him.

"Yeah," He says to her, sounding happy like he did when he saw me. "I'm guessing that she hasn't said anything yet?"

"Not a word..."

I want to speak to the both of them... I'm trying so hard, but words aren't coming out...

"I hope she will talk to me so I will know how she is feeling," Sean says to Sari. "Her name is Xion, and I am Sean."

"So you're the one that that bully Greg was talking about," Sari responds to him, understanding now completely who I was now. "I'm Sari, and it's nice to meet you."

"Greg?" He asked. "Why would he talk about me? Probably to taunt me more after what happened." We continue to move up the line as he talks with the both of us in conversation.

"What happened?" Sari asked.

He sighs for a moment, before telling us. I can tell that he almost did not want to talk about it. "He was blocking me from getting back home with his friends. I tried to escape, and it ended up with me in a losing fight."

What about when you found me? Are you going to tell Sari about that?

"Sorry to hear about that," Sari responds to him, a sympathetic tone in her voice as she listened to him. "I've been having problems with Greg as well. That jerk just doesn't know when to quit, let alone at the name calling!"

Mud boy as Greg described Sean to be... that's name calling, right? I have a bad feeling about Greg... he doesn't seem so nice after all.

Once things began to calm, it did not take too long to reach the door to the kitchen. Sean did the honors of allowing me to go first, with him and Sari right beside me as I continued, looking at the items on the menu that were available. I can feel something softly touch my right hand, seeing that it was a tray. I turn my head and look to see it was Sari who gave it to me.

"You'll need that to have your food on." She tells me, a smile expressing on her mouth.

I turn my head, looking at the menu and the options ahead of me in those silver trays. Each tray described what was there, whether it being stacks of french fries, salads, soups, hamburgers with the option of adding cheese to them, pizza slices with pepperoni on top of them. A few other trays that are ahead of the normal foods offered were gluten free or vegan. I wasn't sure what those tasted like just yet, but I was quite eager to try out the pepperoni pizza slices.

"What can I get for you?" The cafeteria lady behind the counter asked me. I take a look at her, she's wearing a white apron and a hair net which covers her aging hair.

I turn and look at the pepperoni pizza as a way of communicating with her. I wanted to tell her with words, but couldn't speak.

"I'll get that pizza for you, honey," She sounds really nice. She must really enjoy working behind the counter. "I'll give you two slices."

She gathers two slices onto the paper plate that is provided for all of us. I watch as she puts the food filled plate onto my tray, my eyes turning up to see the smile on her face. "Enjoy it!" She exclaims rather joyfully.

As I move down the line towards the drinks, I turn my head to the right to glimpse at both Sean and Sari and the food that they have. He has a variety of french fries on his plate as well as a piece of bready covered food... something that is called the today's special on the menu, which is breaded haddock, made from the chefs in the back of the kitchen and given to the students. With the fries added to it, they called it fish and chips.

Once at the end of the line, I get the pack of 2% milk that is provided for the students. I take it, placing it onto my tray and then going to the cashier at the end of the line.

"New student?" The cashier with blonde hair, covered by the hair net, asked me with his green eyes staring at mine. "I think you'll really enjoy the pizza slices. With those and the drink, the total goes up to $5."

I handed him the $20 bill in my hand. He takes it, placing it into the cash register and returning a $10 bill and a $5 as well. He's got this look on his face, a face that shows friendly gestures. Probably thanking me for the food. He looks probably one or two years older than Sean by the looks of him.

I reach forward to let him have the $15 he gave me, but he looked like he couldn't take it. "Oh no, that's for you, it's change. You gave me a $20, and the cost was $5, so you get $15 back." He said, chuckling a bit.

I guess that's how currency and spending works a bit here...

Once I have waited for both Sean and Sari to pay for their food, I kept close to them as we find an empty table that nobody has taken. We found a table to sit at near the doors that brought students in and out of the cafeteria.

I take my seat in the middle, between both Sean and Sari. She's on my left side and he's on my right side. I grab onto the first pizza slice on my plate and begin to start eating. The taste of cheesy delight soothing my hunger with each swallow that I was taking of this lunch.

While I am eating my lunch, I have my eyes set on the cafeteria doors, watching who is going in and out of the room. Some of them didn't even get a lunch from the kitchen here, as they brought their own lunch from bags in their backpacks. Others outside of the cafeteria, just walking through the hallway with their other friends, talking to one another.

I can see Rickson... he's coming into the cafeteria, but he's not taking a seat at our table or any other table. He's instead moving to the wall nearby and turning to lean his back on it, looking down. He's facing the direction that would have him looking directly towards me. Like before, he has his earphones in his ears.

Another group I recognize comes in as well. It was the boy and his two friends from earlier, Greg, Kyle and Lucas. They looked like they were up to no good, and I didn't even want to think about the conversation that Greg had with Sari and myself earlier.

He takes a glimpse towards where we are sitting, and he turns to his two friends and is laughing about something. They are coming towards the table where we are... uh oh...

I watch as Greg approaches the table, slamming to both of his hands down onto the table which startled both my friends, even myself upon this. He holds a cruel smile on his face, those eyes of his set on Sean himself.

"Well well," Greg started off with quite a tauntful remark. "If it isn't mud boy himself, with his girlfriend and the chatterbox."

"Greg..." I turn to look at Sari, who looks like she wasn't going to have any of this. She's already gritting her teeth from annoyance. "Leave... us... alone..."

"Or what?" He says to her. "Afraid that you'll lose your voice?"

"Why I..." She wanted to make a come back, but didn't know what to say to him.

Greg just laughs, a snobby look present on his face that made him look better than us. "That's what I thought. It's not just you, it's mud boy who is our play toy here."

"I'm not a play toy, not to you." He remarked back with a glare.

"Oh yeah?" Greg says, laughing for a brief moment. "You were too weak to throw a punch at me, let alone try to avoid me. But to throw a rock at me? That's seriously the best you can do?"

"Enough!" Sari shouts, slamming her left hand which was formed as a fist on the table to get his attention back.

"Aw, what's the matter Sari?" Greg turns briefly to her, looking to judge her for her action of hitting the table with her hands. "Swatting flies at your table or something? Go talk someone's ear off."

"Leave Sari alone," Sean warns him. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Of course you don't want to be bothered," He says to him. "You're just a loser boy in this school, that I'm surprised you'd talk to a chatterbox and your girlfriend."

There's that name again... what does he mean by girlfriend? Does he mean by me and Sari being friends who are girls?

"Girlfriend?!" Sean says to him. "We're not dating!"

Lucas joins in the taunting. "Poor Sean doesn't want to go mouth to mouth with his girl! Look at that!"

Greg and Kyle begin to laugh along with Lucas, followed by the startled action of Greg grabbing a handful of fries from Sean's plate and tossing them along with his orange juice into his face which has splashed him and made a mess on his shirt.

"See you, loser!" Greg dismisses him as he goes towards the kitchen doors to get his food, with his two friends following behind him, laughing along.

Inside, I felt a little shocked to see that this is what both of my friends had to deal with while they were here. Why weren't the teachers trying to put a stop to all of this?

"Are you okay Sean?" I turn to hear Sari as my eyes look directly at Sean himself, who is almost doing nothing at all to clean up the mess that Greg and his friends made, especially on him.

He seems almost quiet as he responds to her. "I'm... I'm fine, Sar..."

Why is he quiet? The question I have to him is the same as what Sari had asked. Is Sean okay? Why does he look down?

There's water coming out from his eyes... tears...

Sean... are you okay?

I want to respond to you... please tell me...

You're my friend...

I just want to reach out to you... to talk to you... to speak to you...

...Like you speak to me...


	7. Noise

**A/N: Well... it's been two months since I last updated this story, and I only have to say... finally, I finished this chapter after such a time.**

**Tomorrow will be my 27th birthday, and I already am starting to feel like an old man, hahah. Thankfully, I am starting to feel a little better after my last update, I now believe that I cannot look to the future and that I should live in the present, and I now know that everything is going to be okay.**

**I have finished Final Fantasy VII after a few months as well as Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind. I look forward to Melody of Memory and what will play out with the next phase of Kingdom Hearts games. I am currently going through Final Fantasy VIII, which I had started recently, and it features a few well-known characters that are in Kingdom Hearts. Looking forward to Final Fantasy IX after that, which is the Final Fantasy creator's favorite in the franchise.**

**For the chapters that I have done so far, I have added music tracks to them so that the reader can listen to certain pieces of music that go according to the chapter, just as I have added them here.**

**Alright, enough philosophy, enjoy.**

**As usual, the characters Rickson and Sari belong to Antex-The Legendary Zoroark.**

* * *

It doesn't look like there is going to be any school today for Sean, or the next day. It is a Saturday of course, and that usually means that Sean gets to do whatever for today and tomorrow, as long as he doesn't stay up too late.

I was in his room again, being that his parents and other siblings were downstairs doing what they are doing, I now had a true understanding of what Sean meant when it came to being quiet. Not a sound if I am going with Sean somewhere.

But where was Sean? He was outside, waiting for me to join with him. He was talking to me after breakfast that he was going to bring me with him to the shopping mall in his town. At first I thought that he was going to bring me to the harbour again to watch the sea and have ice cream again, but this is different.

It had been one, maybe two weeks since I had been to his school. In my memories of what I have gathered, I still remember meeting Sari and while I have not met face-to-face or seen his face yet, Rickson was there in the memory. As I only knew the voices of both Sean and Sari, I don't know what Rickson's voice sounds like.

Though my concern still comes to mind when it comes to Sean himself... those bullies at school... he didn't look okay. If I finally get the voice to speak to him, I hope I will be able to ask him why he is holding back these kinds of feelings from me? Are they of him being hurt? Of shame? Why would he feel that way?

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 3 OST - San Fransokyo Field Theme]**

I walk over to the open window of his room, heading to the same ladder of iron that was set at the back of his house. I climb down from them, joining up with Sean as he sat there on the grass, waiting for me. He got up onto his feet as I was climbing down, taking a few steps towards me once I was settled.

"There you are," Sean says to me with a welcome smile on his mouth. "Are you ready to go with me?"

My blue eyes look at his brown eyes, acknowledging his question and already giving the sign that I have given the answer to him which was a yes. Keeping that look on his face, he turns with me tagging alongside him as we leave by the side of his house and make our way down the sidewalk away from the house.

I don't have the hood on top of my head, like I haven't for the past few days, as I have already begun to feel a little more comfortable in this place, though I should still remain a bit cautious on who is mean or nice like those three boys who don't like him or my friend Sari. But why would they call me his girlfriend? Why would they say that?

He looks quite content by the look on his face as I walk beside him, he looks to be digging his right hand hand into the pocket of his jeans, taking out a card and offering it to me as he turns to look at me.

"You'll need this, Xion," He says to me as my left glove covered hand reaches and takes the card he has offered. "It's to help you get onto the local transit here. It's usually how I get to school or to the shopping mall faster without taking a long walk."

This card... it's for local transit?

As I place the card into the pocket of my coat, I continue to walk with Sean until we have made it to the end of the street, where to the right there was a spot different from the rest of the sidewalk. It seems to be a station of some sort with a bench where others were going to sit. My eyes study the environment around that particular area, taking in as much information as I could.

Is this where the local transit would be coming to and from? Are me and Sean going to wait until it arrives?

"Here's where we need to be," Sean says to me. "The bus from transit will come here like it does on its regular schedule. If you want, we can take a seat at the bench until it arrives."

I listen to every word he has said to me, taking a seat on the bench to the left side, facing the street where few to some cars drive past. He sits down on the right, next to me. I turn my head to glance at him for a moment, and then I look ahead again.

Following a few minutes of sitting there with Sean, I could see that bus transit pulling right to the stop. I could see Sean getting up off of the bench and heading to the stop where the bus was. He turns to look at me.

"Are you coming Xion?" He asked me.

I acknowledge him, getting up off of the bench and following behind him, getting out the card from my coat pocket. I watch as he takes out his transit card, and taps it onto the small circular machine which dinged when the card was placed onto it. So I just tap my card onto that and it'll register me as having checked into the transit system or something?

Following his actions, I tap the card to the machine which gives me the same 'ding' sound that it had gave to Sean. I place the card back into my coat pocket, following behind Sean until we have made it to a spot on the bus where there were empty seats. I allow myself to take a seat next to Sean again, just sitting there with him and waiting in that silence that both me and him were sharing together.

Outside the windows of the moving vehicle, my eyes look out towards the road where the vehicles that drive, ride on past ahead to get to wherever they needed to go. Part of me wonders if some of them are setting out to go to the shopping mall, the same place me and Sean are headed to. On a few turns the bus makes, the sun's rays do get in my eyes a bit. In the end though it isn't so bad where I am seated, even when watching others get on or off of the vehicle.

My eyes glance towards Sean, who too is looking outside of the windows of this vehicle. He blinks for a moment, revealing his eyes again as he opens them. He's sharing that same expression on his face when the both of us are quiet.

That sad expression... I wonder why he is looking that way? Was it the bullies? What is bothering him?

...I wish he could tell me...

* * *

The drive down to the shopping mall doesn't take too long, and by the time it looks to have come into view, the sad look on his face disappears and a smile appears on his mouth. He turns to look at me, the blank expression on my face still looking at him. It's almost like he's trying to hide his feelings.

It's okay to tell me Sean... even if I haven't found my voice yet, you can tell me how you feel...

**[Play Final Fantasy X HD Remaster OST - Tidus' Theme Extended]**

The bus comes to a complete stop at the station next to the building itself which I assume must be where Sean is planning to take me to for the day. I follow along as he gets up out of the seat, and walk behind him as we depart off from the transit.

I take a look at the building itself. It appears to be much larger than Sean's school, with many older and younger people coming in and out with items in bags. Sometimes, none at all. I'm surprisingly in awe about this, even if I cannot express it. I follow alongside Sean, moving towards those doors that slide open by themselves and watch as I step forward into the building with the doors opening for us and closing behind us.

The place looked really huge on the inside, with plenty of interiors where people went into with various products on display on the shelves in any of those stores left to right. On the occasion, there was those interiors with counters in which other people like Sean probably an age higher or the same age were gathered at in a line, waiting to get something which smells like food by the aroma that it produced. Sometimes it's not food at all, and that it is only a drink that they ordered.

Ahead of us is a larger wide area in which my eyes could look down below the many levels of this building, seeing tables down below the stairways, where others are seated, eating the food that they have with them that they must have bought from either those places me and Sean passed or judging by the aroma below, places that were the same down there but with many cuisines.

I can feel my left glove-covered hand being taken by Sean's right hand, as he gently holds it. I turn my head as I walk with him, looking down at his hand holding mine. Why is he holding my hand? Is it to keep me safe or close by so he doesn't lose me inside this place?

"I hope you don't mind that I would like to go and check out the video game store first, Xion. Maybe I'll show you one of them tonight." Sean says to me, turning his head to look at me with a smile present.

Even though he looks happy, I still feel that he seems a bit troubled and is trying to hide his sadness from me...

I glance at him, already knowing that my answer would be alright with him going to check it out. I would be interested in looking with him as I would normally hear that kind of music multiple nights before he went to bed and the sounds of the controller he held. I would peek out from the closet to seeing him playing those games as he would do that.

We walk to an escalator and I stand there next to him as the mechanical stairs moves us down to the middle floor. I watch as the level we previously were on gets higher above us, as we reach the bottom and move onto the beautiful tiled floor like the one above, giving space for the other customers to get off of the escalator and proceeding to the side where most of the store interiors were.

Just like above, it is rather busy with many customers heading to the left or to the right ahead which is where I am walking with Sean. We weren't swarmed by the many customers, but we weren't exactly accidentally bumping into them either. Many of these people other than Sean, I don't even recognize...

...The one leaning against the pillar supporting the upper level me and Sean came in from... I recognize him from Sean's school...

It is Rickson, just standing there, leaning against the pillar as if listening to his music. But I don't see any earphones in his ears. What is he doing here? Did he come to shop here, or is he just hanging around here and not doing anything?

As we moved closer in which we would pass him, my blue eyes looked at Rickson as he stood there with his head looking down at the ground he stood on. As I got closer in the direction I walked along with Sean, I could see his face start to become more visible as his head makes a bit of movement before his eyes looked up to make full contact with mine.

His eyes had a yellow color to them, not covered by his long black red-streaked hair this time. They look rather illuminating in a way that it looked almost very familiar by how they were...

It... it's like I've seen those eye colors before...

"_Number fourteen..._"

That voice... it didn't come from him, but it came directly to my head as I walked right past him. Not once did I see Rickson open his mouth to speak to me. I have no clue where that voice came from.

Only one image had flashed before my eyes of someone else when I look directly at those mysterious eyes of yellow he had. It was another person with yellow eyes, that I swear I had seen before but have no idea where. This person from that glimpse, he had the same black coat that I had, with different hair colored in silver, it's appearance appearing close to the back of the coat he wore, part of it dangling in front of him.

When it had come back to Rickson's appearance, I almost felt like I was expressing an emotion. An emotion of complete shock, as if I knew he looked like someone that I did know, but couldn't figure out who it was. The deep voice... very familiar, but the name... I don't know.

"Xion?"

The voice of Sean brought me right back to my senses as I turn my head to look at him. He has this look on his face, that he is wondering what exactly I am thinking. Even though I only made the expression of shock when I had passed Rickson, I couldn't exactly make any other expressions.

Somehow I was slowly starting to gain the usage of what emotions truely are...

"We're here at the store I was talking about," He says to me, putting a warm and gentle smile on his face. "It's up to you if you would like to go in with me. If you don't want to go in, you can wait outside. Just don't go off too far, of course."

I just look at him, tightening a bit of strength onto my hand which Sean was holding. I wanted to go inside with him, and he knew that from the actions I have made.

He chuckles for a moment, responding to me. "Alright, you can come with me." He continues to hold my hand as we both go into the video game store.

Inside of the video game store, my eyes perked open, taking a look at all of the merchandise and boxes similar to the ones Sean has at home. Other than the video games, there were a variety of plushies, game consoles, board games, action figures, etc. There was just so many here...

I felt my left hand being let go for that moment as Sean looks at me. "I'm going to look for the game that I need to get," He says to me. "I'm here if you need me."

I understood, watching as he goes over to the section of video games to look for the product... or game that he is looking to get.

As I stood there, I took in everything that was going on around me with the teenagers coming in to buy the latest release of whatever game had just come out. There was the occasional younger kids that would come in to either buy or just browse around. Almost none of them had even noticed I was there except for a few, but it was nothing more than strange looks, as if I was there or stood out among them.

"...Hey..."

**[Play Final Fantasy VIII - Roses and Wine]**

I could hear someone talking to me, as in trying to get my attention. I don't turn my head to look at first. I thought it was just part of my imagination as my blue eyes continued to watch the teenagers and kids exploring around the store, as well as Sean getting the copy of the video game that he wanted to get.

"...That boy Sean... he said your name. It's... Xion, right?"

I slowly turn my head around to my left, looking to see that it is Rickson who I had just past. My eyes stare at his yellow eyes, not taking in the slightest to look away, but am willing to listen.

Even as I had turned my head, I could notice a few of the looks he was getting from a few of the teenagers that recognized him. Those faces the others gave to him... it's as if he did something bad, and that they were trying their best to not drag themselves into the conversation that I was getting into with Rickson.

"I hope I'm not bothering you too much." Rickson added, his voice sounding calm and quiet, but audible enough for me to hear what he was saying.

Rickson... if I could speak to you, I could tell you that you aren't bothering me at all.

"I saw all of that stuff that was going on with you, Sari and Sean," He admits to me. "I'm not really that talkative when others go to talk to me, but if you and them are ever in trouble... you can come and talk to me..."

My eyes directed themselves towards one of the visible items hanging out from his left sided pocket of his jeans. Those things he wore in his ears... what were they?

"What is it?" He asked me, tracing what I was directly staring at. He looks at the accessories he wore whenever I usually saw him, knowing what I was staring at. "You were looking at these, weren't you?"

I watch as his left hand goes into his pocket, taking out those things, along with some sort of device that they are connected to. He moves his hand with them forward towards me, as in offering to hand them to me to look at them.

"It's earphones. When you want to listen to music, you put them in your ears and listen to the beats, rhythm and soul of the music," He continues, explaining a little more into detail on what they are. "If you want, I could play some music for you from my phone, which is where I store my music."

I move my right hand forward, taking the earphones and move them to my ears, placing them in position. My ears listen in, even though it is silent at first while Rickson is scrolling through the device he has, which I am certain is where the music is going to come from.

After having watched him scrolling through the device he has in his hand, he taps onto the music of his choice and I close my eyes to take in everything that he is playing to me through the earbuds as the sound of it fills into my ears.

**[Play Evanescence - Missing]**

The sound of sweet vocals filled my ears along with the saddened sounds of strings filling in the back behind that voice I was listening. In my vision as I listened to the music, I was looking at Rickson who is shared in the same gaze with me. That color of his eyes, that yellow... I still am reminded of someone I remember...

In the gaze that I shared with him, the environment around me begins to swirl and change, with everything beginning to change around me to somewhere that I don't remember...

The walls around us begins to turn into a gray future-like setting, setting itself like a past memory that I used to remember. Rickson doesn't budge or even take the gaze off of his eyes when the environment changed around us. He just stood there, not taking those yellow eyes off of me.

I broke from my gaze with him, taking a look around the tall room of silver-like gray, with such an open window to take a look on the outside. It's almost black out there, but there is a source of singular light that I could see, almost like the moon on this world... it's a heart in the sky.

"_Number fourteen... number fourteen..._"

The recognizable voice I didn't know... it begins to echo and repeat a bit in my head. I turn back to look at Rickson to see that it is a different figure standing there, someone a little taller, with the silver hair I recalled from the flash upon first taking a glimpse at Rickson's face past his hair.

His eyes are closed, but they slowly open to reveal those same yellow eyes that my new friend had. That black coat and gloves he wore... I was frozen and I couldn't move at all as I could only watch in a bit of that emotionless shock. I could see him slowly walking towards me, only stopping in front of me.

From behind him, I could see two other figures standing there in accompanied matters upon the moment I was experiencing, wearing the same coats. The one on his left has blue hair, and has a scar on his face that resembles that of an "X" itself. The other on the silver haired man's right, is that of someone with black hair featuring graying streaks on them all styled in a ponytail and an eyepatch on his right eye, featuring only his left eye with the same yellow color, just like the silver haired man and the blue haired man.

They... they are staring at me...

I can feel a pulse going on in my head, with the temperature beginning to gradually and quickly begin to heat up. I was still stuck in the same standing position from the moment I looked back.

None of them were even saying a word to me, but the ongoing pulse in my head and the repeating words that sounded throughout my head, it's making my head hurt... wh...what... what is happening...?

Why do I feel this warm...? My head... it feels really light...

"_...a mistake..._"

It was a different voice that was joining in with the other voice, along with another set of voices... only one of them I seem to remember...

"_...Xion..._"

"_...I'll always be there to bring you back!_"

That voice... it sounds familiar as well...

"_...Please don't hold back..._"

My voice... I can hear myself speaking in the various voices that echo in my head. I can feel myself getting released from being frozen in position, falling straight onto my knees. My hands, they place themselves on the sides of my head, and I am trying my best to struggle and get through this struggle of light-headedness.

A noise... it grows louder, shaking my head...

It's... it's all too much for me... I... I don't know if... if I... I...

I can feel myself sliding down onto the floor in front of the three figures... and then everything immediately in my vision had turned to black, as the final images of everyone I know come up into my head.

"Sean..."

"...Sari..."

"...Rickson..."

That boy with golden blonde hair appears before I have gone to complete black again, I can hear my voice again, but I now truely remember his name... The boy I had sea salt ice cream with in that memory...

"...Roxas."

* * *

**Memory**

**The World That Never Was**

_I was in a memory, but it isn't my own..._

_I stood there in the middle of that almost empty street, hearing the empty hollow sound of what almost sounds like wind. The heart in the sky was still there from when I was locked eye-to-eye with Rickson, but the environment... a lot more different than the world I was on._

_Footsteps... I can hear them moving down the street as I turn to look behind me, to the sound that the footsteps were coming from. It's another one like me with the black coat, but with the hood up which hid its face. There is another one as well, the face hidden within the hood over the head, leaning against the building to the left from where I am standing._

_The moment felt very quiet, aside from the hollow wind in the distance and the footsteps the coated boy took without not even a notice to me. Who were they?_

_As the boy walked past the taller one, I can hear a voice from the boy's left. "Your mind's made up?" The figure asked, with the sound of that voice sounding rather familiar to me, I just can't quite put my finger on it._

_The boy stopped in front of me, turning his hooded head to look at the taller one. "Why did the Keyblade choose me?" He questioned to him, as if he knew who it was. "I have to know..."_

_The taller one takes off his hood, revealing red spike-like hair with green eyes and scars underneath the both of his eyes as turns towards the boy. He... he looks really familiar now..._

_"You can't turn on the Organization!"_

_The Organization... there's the mention of them again... but the boy, his voice... is that you Roxas? I try to look through that hood covering, but I cannot see a single face within it. Almost like this was just a hollow memory of someone else that I was experiencing._

_But the mention of the Keyblade... what is the Keyblade?_

_The memory fades to a stop, like this was only temporary, but I am very uncertain what had happened to make the situation like this._

_"Xion..."_

_I hear a voice calling out to me. It's not Roxas or the red haired figure... it's the voice calling for me._

_"Xion..."_

_...Sean?_

* * *

**Reality**

**[Play Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix OST - Treasured Memories]**

My eyes slowly begin to open up, as my vision looks a little bit blurry. From that look, I was able to capture a glimpse of a figure in front of me before it had cleared up, revealing that it is my friend Sean is looking at me.

I felt like I was lying down on the floor, but with realization, I figured that we weren't back in the video game store that me and him were previously in. Another figure comes into view... Rickson. He too, like Sean, looks very worried about me. I slowly open up my eyes completely, starting to move upward from where I was positioned.

"Xion!" Sean sounded really surprised when he spoke out my name. "Are you alright?"

Sean... I'm alright... I don't know how I got outside here with you and Rickson...

Rickson took a look at me with his yellow eyes. "You really startled both me and Sean. While you were listening to my music, you just all of a sudden, fainted on us," He explains to me. "You're looking a little bit pale..."

I turn my head a bit to see what I was lying down on, seeing that it wasn't even the floor itself, but I seem to be held onto by Rickson himself. Maybe he caught my fall when I had fainted like he and Sean were telling me?

"Want me to go get her something to drink? Maybe it'll get her to stand." Sean asked Rickson.

I watch as Rickson digs into what I assume is his pocket, taking a few dollars to giving it to Sean. "That should be enough to get her water."

Sean moves out of the picture to go and get me that drink while Rickson just let me lie there, gently pulling me upward to see if I could maintain myself. My eyes could pick up on all of the looks from some passerbys who were wondering if I was okay. I feel fine... though a bit lightheaded from passing out as my two friends suggested had happened.

"Are you okay?"

The voice of Rickson had me turning to look at him. He still holds a worried look on his face, even when I still felt a bit lightheaded. Even from the glimpse of him alone reminding me of someone I know, but not by his name... I don't feel afraid of him, even with his own mysterious presence that he seems to have with everyone that steers away from him.

I wonder why he sits alone... as if not wanting to talk to anyone else but me and Sean...

With my blue eyes looking at his, I was signalling to him with the blinking of my eyes that I was okay. I'm not too sure if he read that, because I can't give him a form of a worded answer nor an emotion to let him know.

His earphones, they are not on my ears, but they are back in his pocket. He must have put them away...

The sound of footsteps are heard rushing towards us again, and I could see that it was my friend Sean coming back to us, with a water bottle in his hand... probably to give to me.

"Here, Xion," He says to me, opening up the bottle and allowing me to take the plastic bottle filled with the pure liquid in my right hand. "You might want to drink up, it'll give you a bit of strength and cool you down."

I place the tip of the bottle to my lips, letting the water slide into my mouth, with me swallowing it down with each sip that I take. It does feel refreshing... and it gives me energy to cool down the lightheadedness that I did feel when I had returned to consciousness.

At least I wasn't floating in darkness in my sleep anymore...

"Is that better, Xion?" Sean asked me, taking my left hand with the both of his hands and holding it.

I don't feel as dizzy as before... I should probably be fine in standing up on my own.

"There we go," Sean says to me, pulling me up gently onto my feet. "The next time we go do something, we'll make sure we're prepared with water just in case it gets that bad again. Is that alright, Xion?"

I look at him in understanding, my eyes just staring at his. Even so, he knows that I am listening to every word that I say, with relief being expressed on his face. I can hear footsteps, I turn to see Rickson joining us.

"What will you two do now?" He asked us, not looking intimidating at all towards Sean who looks quite calm.

"I'm not sure... Xion fainting was something that hasn't happened, even at such a place this big," Sean responds to him, before turning back to me. "Xion, would you like to head back, or do you want to stay here a little more longer? I don't want anything bad to happen again like today..."

I look at him, turning my head to look around at the rest of the shopping mall. I turn back after a few moments to look at Sean with my answer. I wanted to stay longer, I had never seen such a place with so many shops on the inside. So many people, those with names that I do not know, I wanted to take in as much information on what life was for them here other than outside of Sean's house or here, just like his school.

Rickson's voice is heard behind me. "I think she would like to stay?" He ponders at me when I looked around.

"Alright Xion, we can stay a little longer," Sean says to me. "If you are starting to get lightheaded again, I'll hand you the bottle of water."

"I'll be... around." Rickson stated, looking like he was walking away. I turn my head to look at him as he departs away.

"Wait," Sean grabs his attention, calling out to him. Rickson stops, standing there and listening while Sean was talking to him. "You've helped out Xion. Why not stay with me and her for a bit?"

"...You want me to?" He asked.

"Sure!" Sean says to him. "You... just like me, look like you need someone to keep you company."

Rickson just stood there, pondering at the thought of hanging out with me and Sean. I couldn't see his expression, but I can tell that he is thinking about it. I watch as a few more moments passes before Rickson finally turns around to look at us. Maybe some encouragement from Sean might have helped him... just like with Sean, I want to know a little more about Rickson...

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt..." Rickson says, nervously scratching the back of his head in an awkward, yet shy tone.

"I promise you, it won't be so bad." Sean says to him. I can feel his hand gently taking ahold of my right hand, holding onto it gently.

"...As long as Xion isn't going into a 'girl shopping spree mode' like every other girl at the school does, and brags about what they bought..." Rickson continued.

Girl shopping spree mode? What's that?

I can hear a bit of laughter coming from Sean himself. He seems a tad much happier than usual. As I walk alongside him with Rickson on my left, I turn my head to look at Sean, observing him as he looks ahead with a smile on his face.

Over the past couple of days, I noticed that the usual quiet him had changed a bit... he was now talking with others, and seeing that there was me, Sari and Rickson there. I felt like there was some sort of spark that has made a lot happier.

Was I that spark?

I feel some sort of positive emotion coming to me... and even though he didn't turn to see it, though brief as it was, I knew alone what I was expressing...

...A smile.

* * *

**The Castle That Never Was**

**[Play Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix - Organization XIII]**

Over the skies of the floating castle above the forgotten world that never came to be, floated the heart-shaped moon in the sky known as "Kingdom Hearts", a magical essence that contained the power of all hearts. The moon itself shone brightly as it grew with the amounts of hearts set free from Heartless themselves, to grant the power for those who wish to control all hearts.

The leader of the nobodies, that of Organization XIII, Xemnas himself stands at the top of the castle, observing the light of Kingdom Hearts shining down onto all of the world, still eager to complete the mission that he and all of the remaining organization wanted.

Xemnas was not thinking about Kingdom Hearts as of the moment. He was thinking of something... something else that had crossed his mind as of recently. He was starting to remember that there was another member in the Organization that he had not remembered, but was keeping that nobody in mind.

At first, when he had been receiving these visions, almost like memories were being crossed over between the shift of reality and that of what had happened in another present, it was like he was able to see who it was, but the look of what that Organization member looked like. He couldn't quite put his finger on it...

"That nobody..." His deep voice says, stuck in thought of seeing that girl in his remembering, just like how he remembered the other Organization member who had abandoned him and the other members, Roxas. That boy alone wielded the keyblade, and would need him in order to continue collecting more hearts for Kingdom Hearts, in order for his mission to be completed.

But the girl, he remembered that she was on missions with Roxas a lot. What was her name though? The name that Roxas and Axel would usually call her.

"...She looks rather familiar... have I seen her somewhere here with us before?"

"Xemnas...?"

Xemnas paid no attention to Saïx as he turned around, walking right past the Luna Diviner himself to leave, wanting to think some more. Even from behind, the leader of the nobodies could sense that blank emotion his most trusted member could always share with everyone.

...Who was that girl? Why did he feel he remembered her after such a time...?

...Is it fate that has brought back old memories that were forgotten... until now?

"..._Number fourteen._"

* * *

**A/N: And... that's the chapter. Next chapter should hopefully be soon.**


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